Investor confidence
Maintaining investor confidence is an absolutely critical condition for development, as without this confidence, investment, and by extension developmental progress, can be fast unwound. This is not to say that investor confidence is a sufficient condition for development, but it is unquestionably a required condition. Since independence, Namibia has been extremely successful in maintaining the […]
Reserves and the Namibian currency peg
Over the past few years, Namibia’s international reserve position has come under increasing pressure, as demand for Namibian currency by external parties has been severely outstripped by demand for foreign currency by Namibians. In 2015, the import coverage ratio (international reserves/monthly value of imports) fell to critically low levels, prompting hard currency bond issuance by […]
Tough times for consumers
The Namibia Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose from 3% in June 2015, to 6.7% in June this year, which has undoubtedly constrained the budgets of the average Namibian consumer. Although most salaries are adjusted in line with the inflation rate annually, which was recorded at an average rate of 3.4% in 2015, it has almost […]
Impact of a Brexit on Namibia
Last week Britain voted to leave the EU. The debate heading into the vote resembled a barren waste land of mud where the line between fact and myth was completely muddled. The aftermath of the vote wrought havoc on global financial markets. The uncertainty regarding Britain’s relationship with the EU has led to panic and […]
Namibia’s housing problem is not hard to address, but we need to focus on causes, not symptoms
Namibia has fewer houses than families, with roughly 25% of our population still living in improvised housing. This basic fact forms the cause of enormous consternation, frustration and suffering in the country. The root cause of this problem is simple: we have been woefully inadequate in our provision of serviced land, particularly in and around […]
TransNamib in disarray: at what cost?
It is no secret that the parastatal responsible for providing efficient and effective rail road services in Namibia, TransNamib, is in dire straits. From appointing new managerial and board members, to implementing a 180-day turnaround strategy, the organisation has failed to better its financial position and provide reliable railroad services to the country. The question […]
How about a Basic Nutrition Grant instead?
There has been much talk about the Basic Income Grant (BIG) in Namibia, and elsewhere, however an alternative option worth considering is a Basic Nutrition Grant (BNG). One of the pressing issues facing Namibia’s developmental state is widespread under-nutrition throughout the country, particularly amongst children under the age of five. Namibia’s arid and sparsely populated […]
Namibia feels the pinch of lower oil prices – IPPR (New Era)
Klaus Schade, the Executive Director of the Economic Association of Namibia, gave a presentation on the effects of the low oil price on Thursday, 23rd of June.
Courting or condemning capital?
Without investments, high quality and desirable jobs cannot be created. And heaven knows, Namibia needs jobs. With almost a third of our labour force currently out of work, this is arguably the single greatest issue facing the Namibian people, and the fight against poverty and inequality. Why then, you may ask, are currently doing so […]
House prices not just expensive, but unaffordable
The issue in Namibia that most consumers are facing is that house prices are simply not affordable. Your salary needs to have increased by at least 52% in order for you to have comfortably bought the same type of property that was sold in the market in 2007. This is according to the FNB’s latest […]