The Bank of Namibia (BoN) says the country’s economy is expected to grow by 3.4% in 2022, driven by growth in the extractive sector.
In its Economic Outlook Update released this week, the central bank noted that domestic growth is projected to improve during 2022 and 2023, supported by better growth prospects for the mining industry and most of the tertiary industries.
“Namibia’s economic growth is estimated at 0.9% for 2021 and is expected to improve to 3.4% in 2022 and to 3.7% in 2023. The 2021 growth estimate was revised down from 1.5% published in the December 2021 Economic Outlook update, largely reflecting lower performance for sectors like non-metallic minerals products, construction, wholesale and retail trade, and financial services,†BoN said.
However, the apex bank’s latest GDP growth estimates are a bit higher than Finance minister Ipumbu Shiimi’s projections that Namibia’s economy will only grow by 2.9% this year before accelerating further to 3.7% in 2023.
Last week, Shiimi also revised downwards the country’s 2021 economic growth to 1.2% from the 1.9% growth estimated in his Mid-Year Budget Review.
