A survey that found people are skipping meals to make ends meet makes rubbish of the government's claim that the country is on track to become a high income economy, said PKR Youth chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.

He claimed that the government appeared to be unconcerned over the results of a Merdeka Centre survey published last Friday on continued economic hardships being voters' main concern.

"The findings (of the survey) are most troubling, although not shocking, as Malaysians have often been making such claims although the federal government and the ministers do not seem to care at all.

"They deny the facts, and make noise about an economic situation that doesn't reflect the true reality," said Nik Nazmi in a statement today.

"And while Prime Minister Najib Razak continues to talk about a high income economy being achieved in two years, the people have to tighten their belts," he said.

Incidentally, last Thursday, the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research was reported as saying Malaysia may become a high-income economy as early as the first quarter of next year.

The Edge quoted MIER’s deputy director Ahmad Fauzi Puasa as saying, "Based on data gathered by MIER, we have found that we can achieve a high income economy by the first quarter of 2018.

"Previously we had predicted the country can achieve it by 2019, so this is now earlier,” as reported by Free Malaysia Today.

Nik Nazmi said the government is in denial that the GST, which has caused a rise in prices of goods, is not being felt by the people.

"Petrol prices also continue to increase while the government has not set up any mechanism to protect the people's interest," he added.