In a brief statement on Umno-Online, the party confirmed Shahril’s new role and posted a picture of him receiving his letter of appointment from Prime Minister and Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Speaking to Umno-Online, Shahril said: “I would like to express my sincere appreciation to YAB Prime Minister for this appointment and to YB Datuk Seri President (Ahmad Zahid Hamidi) for his blessing.

“I will do my best to help the existing economics team and try to contribute towards the recovery of the macroeconomy.”

Shahril is an economics graduate from the University of Manchester, which he attended under a Bank Negara Scholarship.

He did his Masters in race, ethnicity and post-colonial studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science through a Chevening scholarship.