KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 13): Malaysia is on track to achieve high income nation status ahead of the 2020 target set by the government, says Employee Provident Fund's (EPF) chief economist Nurhisham Hussein.

Speaking during a post-Budget dialogue this afternoon, Hussein said according to the EPF's growth projections over the next five years, Malaysia's real gross domestic product (GDP) would exceed RM1 trillion by 2018.

According to government’s forecasts, the country’s GDP is expected to hit RM876.5 billion in 2015.

"We are also expected to exceed the World Bank's high income threshold by 2017, and the government's target of US$15,000 by 2018," he said.

However, Hussein said the model used to fashion the Vision 2020 plan would no longer apply once this growth had been reached and something else would have to replace it.