PUTRAJAYA, Dec 5 — Newly-appointed Minister of Economy Mohd Rafizi Ramli said his overall focus will be on taking Malaysia towards becoming a high-income nation.

He said this is in view of the continued strong focus on industries and economic activities that can boost Malaysia’s status to become a high-income nation.

"There is a lot of focus on states which currently do not enjoy good growth and have more poor people.

"Strong focus should be on the most vulnerable groups in society economically through the hardcore poverty eradication programme and so on,” he said during his first press conference after clocking in at work today.

He also said that focus should also be on sustainable development goals (SDGs) as well as technology and the knowledge economy.

Mohd Rafizi said the most important thing to do is to make sure that there is strong cohesion from the top leadership of the government all the way down to make sure that what is being planned is actually carried out properly.

Therefore, building the economy can be the focus rather than politics, he added.

Meanwhile, on policy changes, Mohd Rafizi said it is still premature to say anything about policy but he will give more information in the weeks and months ahead.

Commenting on the budget development, he said the government will be tabling the budget for emoluments in the next Parliamentary sitting, while the full budget will be tabled in one or two months.

"We have gone through it (the budget), and it is at a very micro level. It is very premature to say anything now.... We are going through the process anyway,” he added. — Bernama