For instance, at a seminar in the city last Saturday, he claimed the price of rice has risen by only Tk 3 per kilo from 1982 to 2005, which in reality grew by Tk 10 to 11 over that period.

Lambasting the media for running false news, the finance minister said rice, which sells at Tk 15 a kg now, used to be sold at Tk 12 back in 1982, posing the question, "Has not the price of rice gone up only by Tk 3 in two decades?" He then remarked that media does not want the farmers to get just price for their produce.

But, according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data, the lowest price of coarse rice in 1982 was between Tk 5.76 and Tk 6.49 per sher (one-seventeenth less than a kilogram).

The price listing of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (Cab) puts that price at Tk 18 on an average for February last.