Namibia’s economy grew by 4.3% in the third quarter of 2022, compared to 5.6% recorded in the same period last year, data from the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) shows.
“In the quarter under review, Gross Domestic Product in nominal terms, stood at N$50 billion, up by N$4.4 billion when compared to the N$45.6 billion registered in the corresponding quarter of 2021. The economy continued to remain in the positive trajectory for six consecutive quarters,” NSA’s Statistician-General and CEO Alex Shimuafeni said.
The slow performance, according to NSA, is largely attributable to the contractions being observed in the sectors of agriculture and forestry, financial services activities and public administration and defence, which posted declines in real value added of 14.2%, 4.7%, and 2.7%, respectively.
“The main contributors to the 4.3 percent GDP growth were the ‘Mining and quarrying’ and the Manufacturing sectors with a combined contribution of 3.0 percentage points. The least contributing sectors to the growth were the ‘Agriculture and Forestry’ and ‘Public administration’ that removed 0.5 percentage points and 0.4 percentage points, respectively,” he said.
“Furthermore, activities slowed in the sector of ‘Mining and quarrying’ and ‘Hotels and Restaurants’ from a growth of 34.4% and 19.6% in real value added recorded in the third quarter of 2021 in comparison to the 14.9% and 1.7% in real value added, respectively.”
Positive growth was primarily driven by sectors of manufacturing and wholesale and retail trade sectors posting increases of 12.9%, and 10.2% in real value added, in comparison to the 6.9%, and 0.4% registered in the corresponding quarter of 2021, respectively.
Private final consumption expenditure slowed during the period under review to register a 12.8%, compared to the 30.1% recorded in the parallel quarter of 2021.
“The slowdown in demand for final goods is due to the pressure on income as prices rise resulting in reduced imports for consumption,” he said.
The government’s final consumption expenditure posted a slower growth of 0.2%, in comparison to the 1.2% recorded in the third quarter of 2021, “reflecting the ongoing fiscal consolidation as the government continues to curb expenditure”.
“In as much as Gross fixed capital expenditure posted a decline of 12.8 percent during the period under review, this shows an improved performance relative to the contraction of 24.6 percent registered in the same quarter of 2021.”
The Bank of Namibia forecasts the domestic economy to grow 3.9% in 2022 before moderating slightly to 2.7% in 2023, higher than 2.8% forecasted by Finance and Public Enterprises Minister Ipumbu Shiimi in his October Mid-Year Budget Review for 2022 and 3.4% for 2023.
