Second quarter 2018 trade statistics – some worrying trends
The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) has released the trade statistics for the second quarter 2018 on 13 September 2018. The trade statistics refer to trade in goods only and exclude the trade in services. Namibia usually achieves a surplus in the trade of services. Herewith a few highlights: The value of exports increased by 19.6% […]
August 2018 inflation rate – inflation eases slightly
The Namibia Statistics Agency has released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for August 2018 on 13 September 2018. The CPI is being used to calculate the monthly (compared to the previous month) and year-on-year (compared to the same month in the previous year) inflation rates. The annual inflation rate eased slightly from 4.5% in July […]
Are we in for another perfect storm?
Emerging markets have come under severe pressure recently, partly owing to global events and partly to domestic – mainly policy – issues. The Argentinian peso lost about 50% of its value against the US dollar forcing the central bank to raise interest rates to 60%. The Turkish lira lost 40%. Following suit is the South […]
How do rural people save and invest traditionally?
7 September 2018 From income and expenditure surveys we know quite a lot about what people earn and spend from day to day. The surveys also tell us about sources of incomes. By contrast, less information is collected on what people save or in what they invest. That seems odd. Why should we pay scant […]
EAN Breakfast Meeting – South African Economic Outlook
Is food security more important than cash security?
A recent search in Google for the exact phrase ‘food security’ came back with a whopping 24,500,000 finds, while ‘income security’ produced a list of 1,820,000 ‘hits’. ‘Cash security’ trailed way behind with only about 284,000 items. Very different numbers. The content of the pages at the top of the search lists was also starkly […]
Should tenure systems still govern land uses, or vice versa?
The much-awaited 2nd land conference is 6 weeks away. Lots is being alleged, assumed and demanded during dozens of meetings and consultations, often accompanied by considerable hype. Despite all this talk and energy, the debate about land remains narrow, focusing largely on land as a political football. Those who score most goals will fill their […]
Fuel price hikes – The Namibian
CONSUMERS must brace themselves for another tough month as fuel prices were increased for a fourth consecutive month, with analysts predicting that prices will continue on an upward trajectory for the remainder of 2018 (…) Economic Association of Namibia research associate Klaus Schade added that the continuation of the depreciation of the Namibia dollar against […]
Fuel price increase Sep. 2018 – National Energy Fund continues to subsidise motorists
The Ministry of Mines and Energy announced a fuel price increase of NAD0.40 per litre for petrol and diesel countrywide on 3 September 2018 with effect of 5 September 2018 midnight. The reason for the price hike is the depreciation of the Namibia dollar against the US dollar. The Namibia dollar depreciated by 6.6% from […]
Private sector credit extension continued to increase in July 2018
The Bank of Namibia has released selected statistical data for July 2018 that cover among others the extension of credit to the private sector (PSCE). Herewith our main findings: Total credit extended to businesses and to individuals amounted to NAD93,409.2 million in July 2018. Overall credit extension grew by 0.3% compared to June 2018 or […]