Economist Muhammed Abdul Khalid has been appointed as the economic advisor to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. 

This follows Muhammed's stint as the secretariat head for the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP), which has served past its 100-day tenure. 

Muhammed is best known for his talk show appearances, where he explains economic issues in simple language. 

In 2014, he authored the well-received "The Colour of Inequality: Ethnicity, Class, Income and Wealth in Malaysia" which illustrated how Malaysia's wealth gap was widening in tandem with its economic success.

He was formerly a research head at the Khazanah Research Institute, chief economist with the Securities Commission and senior analyst with the Institute of Strategic and International Studies. 

He has also held positions with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Unescap).

The Penang-born economist was awarded a PhD with highest honours from the Paris Institute of Political Studies, better known as Sciences Po, and is the founder of big data firm DM Analytics. 

His appointment will take effect on Aug 27.