Minister in Prime Minister's Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan has been ridiculed for saying the country is on target to be a developed nation by 2020.

"It is hilarious to read Abdul Rahman's statement […] based purely on gross domestic product (GDP) as an indicator of economic progress.

"Abdul Rahman Dahlan is unfazed in trying to mislead the people by manipulating economic data, just to improve the people's confidence in Umno-BN, whose image is increasingly tarnished by a culture of wastage, corruption and bad governance," said PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail in a statement today.

He said the minister's use of the World Bank's GDP forecasts for Malaysia in 2017, 2018 and 2019, which have been revised upward by 0.6%, 0.4% and 0.5% respectively, was deceptive.

Abdul Rahman on Tuesday hailed the revisions released in the World Bank's bi-annual Global Economic Prospects on June 4, 2017 as a sign Malaysia's economy was "solid" and "proves that Malaysia is on an accelerated track to achieve developed economy status by 2020".

"While he flaunts the name of the World Bank […], the (GDP) figure isn't enough to make Malaysia a developed country or a high-income nation," said Saifuddin.

He noted the World Bank ranks a developed nation as one with a per capita income exceeding US$12,475 or roughly RM53,181.

"In contrast, Malaysia's per capita income in 2016 was only roughly RM37,104," he said.

"With a gloomy economic environment, plus rising unemployment and inflation, the country will find it increasingly difficult to achieve developed nation status by 2020."

Saifuddin said Abdul Rahman's claim that "fiscal consolidation will reduce fiscal deficit and help sustain government debt to GDP ratio" would not help the economy.

He said as the national debt climbs higher and higher, Prime Minister Najib Razak would be forced to table a supplementary budget.

"The rising cost of living, low wage growth, the widening gap between rich and poor, along with an increasing number of welfare recipients, clearly indicate that the economic data painted is mere rhetoric to confuse the people," he said.

He urged the BN government to stop "fooling the public" with positive economic data when the people are in reality facing hard times.