Namibia’s economy is expected to grow by 3% this year, the Bank of Namibia (BoN) Governor Johannes !Gawaxab has said.
“Overall domestic economic activity recovered in 2021 compared to 2020. The increase in economic activity was observed in major sectors such as mining, wholesale and retail trade, communication and tourism. On the contrary, activity in the construction, manufacturing and transport sectors as well as the number of cattle marketed slowed over the same period,” he said while presenting his Monetary Policy Statement on Wednesday.
He, however, noted that risks to the domestic economic outlook in the medium term remain sudden surges in COVID-19 cases and vaccine hesitancy.
“The MPC would like to reiterate that addressing vaccine hesitancy remains key to the extent, speed, and sustainability of the economic recovery.”
The BoN’s 2022 growth forecast is higher than the 1.3% forecasted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), 1.8% by the World Bank but lower that the 3.3% estimate of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Rand Merchant Bank’s (RMB) expects growth in 2022 to come in at 3% on the back of mining and agriculture, before lifting further to 3.5% in 2023.
According to BoN, Namibia’s overall inflation is projected to average around 4.4% for 2022 and 4.5% in 2023, up from 3.6% recorded in 2021.
“Although overall inflation remains within a reasonable range, its food and transport components are expected to increase in the near future and may continue to have a disproportionate effect on the low-income segment of the society, and therefore require close monitoring,” !Gawaxab warned.
Inflation figures released by the Namibia Statistics Agency on Tuesday showed Namibia’s annual consumer price inflation hit a high of 4.6% in January 2022 compared to 2.7% recorded in January last year.
Simonis Storm forecast annual inflation for 2022 to average 4.7%, with RMB estimates at 4.3%.
