Former airline boss Christopher Luxon formally took office as New Zealand's prime minister Monday, vowing to tame inflation and bring down interest rates.

New Zealand PM policy statement

"It is an honour and an awesome responsibility," Luxon told reporters.

"The number one job is to fix the economy. We have to reduce the cost of living and get inflation under control so we can lower interest rates and make food more affordable."

Luxon said his new government would also focus in its first few months on restoring law and order and improving public services.

"We need to go to work," he said.

Signing-in ceremony

Ministers and their families went to the government house in Wellington for the signing-in ceremony, where they swore their allegiance to King Charles and where Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro signed a warrant formally appointing Luxon as Prime Minister.

Challenges for New Zealand PM

Christopher has one of the biggest challenges to restore law and order and trim 6.5% of savings from public service.

He was sworn in as prime minister along with 20 Cabinet ministers, eight ministers outside of cabinet, and two under-secretaries.

The new PM of NZ said his government was not “excessively large”. Jacinda Ardern had the same number of ministers inside and outside Cabinet in 2017, but there are three more ministers outside Cabinet than under John Key’s 2014 government.

“We have 28 ministers, eight outside of Cabinet, 20 inside, obviously, and two under-secretaries and so in the history, it's not excessively large, but it is also an acknowledgement that we actually have three coalition parties here – we've got a lot of work to do,” he said on his first day as prime minister.