KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — Malaysia must remain competitive, productive and open to investments while ensuring its economic growth is driven by a moral purpose, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today.  

Anwar said technological advancements must pave the way for inclusive development that is rooted in tradition, culture and values and offers people a life with dignity. 

“To reclaim humanity is to recover a simple but too often neglected truth. The economy is a means not an end in itself. 

“Its purpose is not merely to produce higher numbers, greater consumption or larger concentration of wealth, but to enable people to live with dignity, security, purpose and hope,” Anwar said, before launching the Humane Economy Global Discourse 2026 at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur today.

Anwar stressed that countries should treat their people as partners in development and not merely as instruments of production and that national prosperity should translate into better wages, affordable housing and accessible healthcare. 

Anwar, who is also the finance minister, said these values would be reflected in the 2027 Budget, which will be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat early October. 

 “Let Malaysia demonstrate that economic pragmatism and moral purpose can walk together.

“And let Asean, the community of nations, demonstrate that diversity can be a source of strength rather than division. 

“And let the Global South demonstrate that development need not reproduce the inequalities and injustices of the past,” he added.