The Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade is planning on opening a second school uniform manufacturing factory at Ovitoto in Otjozondjupa Region to stimulate growth in the poverty-stricken area.
In the same vein, the Ministry aspires to open a tomato processing factory in Omusati Region.
Last year the Ministry opened a first-ever factory at Nkurenkuru with a capital injection of N$3 million and with the potential of creating 80 jobs. The factories are leased locally in an effort to reduce overreliance on imports from overseas and boost local economies through employment provision.
The latest development was announced by the Industrialisation and Trade Minister Lucia Iipumbu, who emphasised that there is a need to forge a greater spirit of Namibia first, in order to accelerate the economic recovery and growth which is the greatest challenge the Government is seized with.
She made these remarks during the appropriation of the budget in parliament. The Ministry was allocated N$297,556,000 for the 2023/24 financial year.
Of the total N$138,784,627 is allocated towards the Trade Promotion Programme while N$61,214,461 was allocated to Industrial Development.
Investment Promotion was allocated N$4,151,049 while Special Industrialisation and Policy Supervision and Support Services were allocated N$26,234,769 and N$67,171,094 respectively.
State-owned enterprises such as Business Intellectual Property Authority (BIPA) got N$1 million; Namibia Competition Commission (NaCC) N$24 million; Namibia Estate Agency Board N$1.6 million; Namibian Standards Institution (NSI) – N$31.73 million.
In addition, the Namibia Trade Forum was allocated N$2 million, and half a million to the Namibia Chamber of Commerce.
“Despite economic headwinds, they managed to increase our Ministerial budget by 22% which will enable us to contribute towards Namibia’s economic development. This budget provides us with an opportunity to revive some of the Ministerial activities that were put on hold due to economic challenges perpetrated by Covid-19 pandemic since end of 2019 to current, and followed by Russia -Ukraine war which have sent economic shock in the macro-economic activities across the globe such as high inflation rate in goods and services” Iipumbu said.
It’s on that basis she said, the Ministry will therefore prioritise the implementation of programmes and projects such as positioning Namibia on the implementation of AfCFTA Strategy and Action Plan 2023-2027; train approximately 1,400 MSMEs under EMPRETEC Programme.
The Ministry further intends to enhance regional integration by cementing already signed joint commissions between African member states; such as Botswana, Zambia, Angola, South Africa, Ghana and Tanzania.
Implementation of the 2063 SACU Industrialisation Strategy as well as the Sustainable Development Goal – Impact Facility (SDG-IF) for Agriculture and Biomass industries; including the National Single Window (NSW) and Revival of Equipment Aid Scheme (EAS), are also some of the mooted programmes.
“2023/2024 budget is a catalyst to revive key sectors of our economy for sustainable development. Thus, the budget serves as an important instrument for ensuring that the country’s economic recovery initiatives are well coordinated,” Iipumbu said.
