Namibia has recorded a trade deficit of N$2.5 billion with the rest of the world, figures from the Namibia Statistics Agency show.
In the period under review, the country imported cutlery products valued at N$7,2 million mostly sourced from South Africa and China.
According to the Namibia Trade Statistics Bulletin, exports earnings for June 2022 stood at N$8,0 billion, up by 26,0% on monthly basis while the imports bill amounted to N$10,5 billion, going down by 15.9% on monthly basis.
According to the NSA, this resulted in a trade deficit of N$2,5 billion, which is 59,4% lower than the N$6,1 billion observed in May 2022.
Cumulative Values
According to the bulletin, Namibia’s trade activities continue to increase for the period of January to June 2022 when compared to the same period of 2021.
The country’s cumulative total trade up to June 2022 stood at N$107 billion, a noticeable 46.1 percent increase from N$73.2 billion witnessed by June 2021.
In the month of June 2022, the mining and quarrying products emerged as the largest exported goods with a value of N$3.8 billion, absorbing 47.1 percent of total exports.
The NSA said products from the industry increased by N$1.8 billion from N$2.0 billion recorded in May 2022.
Products from the manufacturing industry came in second position with exports valued at N$3.7 billion in June 2022. Exported products from this industry decreased by N$256 million from N$4.0 billion recorded in May 2022.
The demand side was mainly dominated by products from the manufacturing industry, with an import bill of N$6.8 billion in June 2022.
This, however, is a decrease of 4.3 percent from N$7.1 billion recorded the previous month.
Mining and quarrying goods imported took a share of 32.1 percent of the total imports for the month of June 2022, the bill decreased by a notable N$1.8 billion from N$5.1 billion.
The value of exports in June 2022 increased by 26.0 percent to N$8.0 billion from its May 2022 level of N$6.3 billion. On the other hand, when compared to its level of N$6.9 billion recorded in June 2021, exports increased by 15.1 percent.
According to the bulletin, imports stood at N$10.5 billion, reflecting a decrease of 15.9 percent month-on-month and a 24.8 percent increase year-on-year basis.
Following these developments in both flows, Namibia’s total merchandize trade (exports plus imports) with the ROW decreased by 1.7 percent from its May 2022 level of N$18.8 billion to N$18.4 billion recorded in June 2022.
“Additionally, total trade strengthened by 20.4 percent when compared to N$15.3 billion recorded in June 2021,†said NSA.
Namibia’s exports to Botswana were valued at N$1.6 billion and imported goods at a value of N$45 million, thus representing a positive trade balance between the two countries of N$1.5 billion.
With South Africa, Namibia recorded export to a total value of N$1.5 billion during the month of June 2022 whilst importing goods valued at N$3.7 billion which resulted in a trade deficit of N$2.2 billion.
Namibia exports to France during the month under review amounted to N$718 million while imports stood at N$36 million resulting in a trade surplus of N$683 million. Exports to China were valued at N$590 million and an import bill of N$749 million resulting in a trade deficit of N$159 million.
“Spain featured in our top five exports for the month of June 2022 with an export bill of N$507 million and importing goods worth N$24 million recording a trade surplus of N$483 million,†the bulletin said.
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