BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday accused the government of giving false statistics to people about the country's foreign exchange reserves and per capita income.

"Those who’re now ruling the country are resorting to lies and deception. They’re talking about $46 billion reserves. But the IMF says it has actually inflated by 15 percent. Fake statistics have been given,” he said.

Speaking at a programme of Jatiyatabadi Krishak Dal, Fakhrul said the government has overstated the foreign exchange reserves by around $7 billion.

The event was held at the chairperson's office in Gulshan on the occasion of launching the Krishak Dal’s member recruitment programme. Three field-level farmers received the membership of Jatiyatabadi Krishak Dal from the hands of Fakhrul by filling its form.

The BNP leader said the government is also talking about increasing per capita income. “If it happened, why did our brother Shafiuddin commit suicide?...in every case, those who usurped power using state machinery always lie."

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He said the government used to talk about production and development. “It seems that they’re covering everything with gold in Bangladesh. But we saw media reports yesterday (Tuesday) that Bangladesh still has to import 67 lakh metric tonnes of food. It has proved that the government’s claim of attaining food autarky is nothing but trickery.”

Fakhrul said it is the character of the Awami League to create a sensation by resorting to lies and misleading people.

Criticising the government, he said the government has thrown the farmers into extreme problems by increasing the prices of fertiliser and other agri-inputs.

“Do you remember that they (govt) had said they would give you rice at Tk10 per kg? Did they do it?  The price of per kg rice is now Tk60-70.”

He said the government had also promised to provide farmers with fertilizer free of cost. “The price of fertilizer is now three-four times higher.”

Fakhrul said people are going through serious ordeals because of the unusual price hike of all the commodities. "The price of everything has gone up 10-15 times. The tariffs of gas, water and electricity have also been raised. People are now angry as they’re in a miserable situation. People want to get out of this situation.”

Stating their party will soon declare programmes to intensify the anti-government movement, he urged the Krishak Dal leaders to involve the farmers with the movement to make it a success.