Malaysia Overview

Photo credit

Oscar Arribas

8:57pm Monday 21 May

New Zealand has strong official, business and individual links with Malaysia, which is an influential member of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). It is one of the Southeast Asian countries best known to New Zealanders. There is a history of close and friendly links, stemming originally from Commonwealth ties, the aid and education-related Colombo Plan and shared security concerns.

Malaysia is New Zealand's second largest trade partner in ASEAN, our 9th largest export market globally and ranks as New Zealand's 7th largest source of imports, with crude oil and electronic products representing over 40 percent of imports.

The bulk of New Zealand exports to Malaysia are agriculture-related, with dairy products (mainly milk powder) accounting for around 50 percent. Southbound trade has also grown rapidly. New Zealand and Malaysia also share a bilateral free trade agreement which entered into force on 1 August 2010.

Map of Malaysia and surrounding region with ASEAN neighbours marked

Key demographics

Official Name	Federation of Malaysia
Land Area	329,758 sq km
Population	28.4 million (2010) (51% Malay, 24% Chinese, 11% indigenous, 7% Indian, 7% others)
Capital City	Kuala Lumpur (Putrajaya is the "administrative centre")
Religion	Islam (also Buddhism, Daoism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Christianity)
Language	Malay or Malaysian (Bahasa Malaysia), English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Tamil
Currency	Ringgit (RM)

Key statistics

GDP	US$247.5 billion (2011 estimate)
GDP per capita	US$15,578 (PPP estimate 2011)
Total exports	US$198.95 billion (2010)
Total imports	US$157.2 billion (2010)
Total NZ exports to Malaysia	NZ$874.9 million (2011)
Total NZ imports from Malaysia	NZ$1406 million (2011)

Sources of data: IMF (GDP data), World Bank (export/imports) and Global Trade Atlas (NZ exports/imports).