Solar energy not a cheaper alternative to conventional power: Brown
WINDHOEK, 05 SEP (NAMPA) General Manager of the Renewable Energy Industry Association of Namibia (REIAoN), Harald Schütt has expressed dissatisfaction at regulation that limits independent renewable energy producers from feeding their excess supply to the national grid. Schütt on Wednesday at the Economic Association of Namibia (EAN) panel discussion on Recovering from the economic downturn […]
African countries challenged to create value chains
Renowned Namibian economist of the Economic Association of Namibia, Klaus Schade, has thrown his weight behind growing debate that diamond producing countries in Africa need to create sustainable value chains from their resources that will in turn be conveyor belts for employment creation. Schade concurs that such a move will boost revenue generation for African […]
Loud silence as Harambee turned three
The Harambee Prosperity Plan – launched in 2016 – turned three years old on 1 April 2019. The Presidency could however not respond to questions regarding the progress of the plan saying a progress report will form part of the upcoming State of Nation Address. The State of the Nation Address (SONA) is an annual […]
BoN not worried about SARB nationalisation
Central bank deputy governor, Ebson Uanguta has said that the bank is not worried about calls by South African president Cyril Ramaphosa to nationalise the partly private owned South African Reserve Bank despite the economic link between South Africa and Namibia. Speaking at the side-lines of the monetary policy announcement this week, Uanguta said the […]
Namibia’s ability to be a logistics hub challenged
NAMIBIA’S vision of becoming a logistics hub is too ambitious, desultory and costly, and should be reassessed, says Rainer Ritter of the Economic Association of Namibia (EAN). Ritter made the above remarks at the launch of EANs public enterprises review, titled Namport Within the Context of a Logistics Hub in Windhoek this week. The review […]
Namibia’s fiscal policy at a crossroads
The Namibian economy is at a difficult juncture when it comes to its fiscal policy since the country’s independence in 1990, which has seen government debt and deficit levels rise significantly over the years reaching critical levels of 50% of the gross domestic product (GDP) exacerbated by weak economic recovery. Economic experts have been pressuring […]
Budget delay raises suspicions
Delays in tabling the 2019/20 national budget have raised suspicions amongst economists, who strongly suspect that the economy might be in turmoil than widely thought. Executive Assistant to the Finance Minister, Esau Mbako, confirmed on Thursday that the tabling of the 2019/20 fiscal year budget has been postponed to the 27th of March, the second […]
Consumption to economic growth dips
THE contribution of household consumption to economic growth declined to -4% in 2017, from a positive growth of 6% in 2016, according to statistics provided by the Namibia Statistics Agency. The annual national accounts’ report by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) showed that in 2017, private households’ consumption amounted to approximately N$121 million each for […]
No Fuel Hikes for March
MINES and energy minister Tom Alweendo last Friday announced that fuel prices will remain. The prices at Walvis Bay will be N$12,05 per litre for petrol and N$13,13 per litre for diesel for the month of March. This is the third consecutive month that the ministry has kept fuel prices unchanged, with the minister saying […]
Budget needs to address civil service and budget deficit
With the date of the tabling of the national budget confirmed for Wednesday, 13 March, 2019, economists have pointed out the bloated wage bill, under-performing public enterprises, including a review of the public sector, and the budget deficit as some of the most crucial aspects that Finance Minister, Calle Schlettwein, needs to address. “Natural attrition […]