"Whereas, as the finance minister I use a car so modest that my head often hits its roof," he said at a meeting with the Economic Reporters Forum (ERF).

He also criticised people who keep on demanding strengthening local government without knowing and considering the financial implications. "You must realise that the Bangladeshi local government bodies do not try to earn anything through local taxes. Instead, they depend on government funding," he said.

"People don't want to pay tax, but they will pay extortionists thousands of taka," he noted, adding "and the local bodies also do not push for any tax fearing negative election results."

"Recently, I have checked the accounts of a city corporation. There I found the mayor of the corporation bought a Pajero and was charging Tk 24 lakh a year for its petrol alone."

"In a city corporation there are 200 sweepers. But among them only about 50 actually clean city roads. The rest serve personal purposes of the mayors and the ward commissioners," he pointed out.

"The same goes with the other city corporations in Chittagong, Khulna, Sylhet and other places," he added.