Namibia GDP growth seen accelerating to 2.2% this year- finance minister

Calle Schlettwein, Namibia’s finance minister said on Friday that the country’s economic growth is expected to accelerate to 2.2 percent this year from an estimated 1.6 percent growth in 2016, supported by higher commodity prices.

“We expect improvement due to rising commodity prices although some of the revenue increases might be offset by an (unfavourable) exchange rate. There is renewed interest in exploration projects especially Lithium,” Schlettwein said.

Meanwhile, Mally Likukela, managing director of Twilight Capital Consulting in Namibia said while responding to questions on Namibia’s economic standing Tuesday said the Namibian economy has not shown tangible signs of recovery.

Likukela opined that the economy will not experience any growth in 2018 as most fundamentals remained “subdued”.

In his words, “there is no tangible sign of recovery thus far. What is there is just some indicators that seem to suggest that a recovery is possible in the near future, but those indicators need to be nurtured and given time to entrench deeper before anyone can make a pronouncement.”

According to Likukela, business confidence is also weak as can be seen in the low appetite for vehicles.

“Vehicle sales are lead economic indicators and when the sales are low, it means demand or outlook is also gloomy,” he explained.