He said Anwar took on the role to prevent conflict among the coalitions and parties that form the unity government.

“No party had the majority to form the government but, at the same time, we needed strong leadership for the economy,” Rafizi, the PKR deputy president, told a press conference.

“We also know that every component party in the unity government wanted the finance minister’s post, so it makes sense for now for the prime minister to take on the role to avoid conflict.”

Rafizi, however, said he hoped it would be an exception to the norm as ideally, the prime minister should not also be holding the finance portfolio in the Cabinet.

The last time Malaysia had a prime minister who served as finance minister simultaneously was Najib Razak. The two prime ministers before him, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Dr Mahathir Mohamad, also held the same post.

In its 2018 general election (GE14) manifesto, Pakatan Harapan (PH) had pledged that the prime minister would not hold another ministerial portfolio simultaneously.

Previously, Anwar told Bloomberg that he had not considered keeping the finance portfolio for himself when he was deciding on his Cabinet.

Anwar served as finance minister in the 1990s when he was also the deputy prime minister in the Mahathir administration.

Meanwhile, separately, Rafizi said as economic affairs minister he aims to put Malaysia on the road to becoming a high-income nation.

He added that it could be achieved by continuing to focus on industries and economic activities.

Towards that goal, Rafizi said it was also important to ensure there was strong cohesion from the top leadership of the government all the way down to make sure policies and plans were carried out properly.

“In this way, building the economy can be the focus rather than politics,” he added.

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