Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng should learn about economics from the minister in charge of the Economic Planning Unit (EPU), Rahman Dahlan, suggested Gerakan.

It claimed the CM's performance in managing the state's economy was woeful, and he would benefit from having a mentor.

Gerakan secretary-general Liang Teck Meng sarcastically implied this when criticising what he claimed was Lim's poor management of the Penang economy.

"Maybe the Petaling Jaya Utara parliamentarian, who is an expert on the economy, can give advice to the chief minister.

"I want to suggest that Lim meets with Rahman, who is in charge of the EPU, to talk about measures to put the state's economy back on track," he said.

Liang quoted data from the National Statistics Department that showed the per capita GDP for Penang only showed a 44 percent increase from RM31,039 in 2007, to RM44,847 in 2015.

He said Penang last year was ranked at number three amongst the states. But if the percentage of GDP growth since 2007 was taken into consideration, then Penang did badly.

"If you compare the statistics between 2007 and 2015, the per capita GDP for Penang showed a 44 percent increase, which is the lowest growth recorded, even if you included Kuala Lumpur and Labuan," said Liang at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

He says that while the GDP per capita in Kelantan for 2015 was at its lowest, the growth rate for the East Coast state for the same period far outstripped Penang at 73.9 percent.

Liang said that the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority also showed that since 2010, investments into Penang had lessened, with the state falling from first place in 2010, to fifth in 2015.

"At the same time, we were shocked to see that the operating costs for Penang rising exponentially, from RM283.15 million in 2008, to RM745.54 million in 2014."

The Gerakan secretary-general also lambasted the newly founded Penang Front Party (PFP) which wants to build a casino in Penang should it win in the next election.

"I think that it is enough for a country to have one casino. It is enough to get tourists to visit Malaysia." He also mooted if a casino was good for business, then shouldn't all states build one.

PFP had argued that a casino would help generate more income for Penang.