PRIME Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has vowed to lift the country’s economy, hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, by focusing on achieving two main objectives.

In his inaugural speech, which was aired live this evening, the Bera MP said the government was looking increase domestic consumer spending power as well as to strengthen the private sector.

“The crisis has brought a serious holistic impact to the global economy, including ours. Various industries, especially the small medium enterprises have been severely hit. Some are still struggling, while others have gone bankrupt.

“This has in turn impacted our people’s financial health. This government will be focusing on achieving these two main objectives: the first is returning public prosperity by amplifying efforts in escalating the purchasing power among the domestic consumers.

“The second objective is to strengthen the private sector’s role as a significant driver of the nation’s economic growth,” he said.

The 61-year-old prime minister also said that no one would be left behind, regardless of race, religion or ethnicity, and promised to develop new economic strategies.

“Our efforts will not end here. We will continue working with the people to implement other vital strategies.

“This is to further strengthen our economic fundamentals and put Malaysia once again as the premier investment destination in Southeast Asia,” he said.

Last month, former international trade and industry minister Mohamed Azmin Ali had said the economy was seeing signs of recovery in the second quarter of 2020.

Former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin had also said that the country’s economic situation was expected to improve this year following the government’s recovery measures.

Meanwhile, former finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said the government’s RM150 billion Pemulih financial stimulus package will boost national gross domestic product (GDP) by 2%.

However, the Statistics Department reported that GDP shrank 5.6% in 2020 and was just 0.5% in the first quarter of 2021.

Furthermore, prominent economist, Muhammed Abdul Khalid, accused the government of lying over its economic projections.

Ismail Sabri is the country’s 9th prime minister, replacing Muhyiddin Yassin after the Pagoh MP lost his parliamentary majority and resigned last week.

Ismail Sabri is the nation’s third prime minister since the 2018 general election. – August 22, 2021.