The World Bank says Namibia will only be able to reap the benefits of green hydrogen, oil and gas in the long-term considering that the sectors are capital intensive.
The World Bank’s Regional Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa, Victoria Kwakwa, said value addition in the agricultural and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) sectors, will in the short term relieve the burden.
“To almost all countries we have been to, unemployment rises as the biggest challenge, especially among the youth, including Namibia. With this challenge, we take note that Namibia is on the right trajectory in addressing these issues, more so through the green industry. However, it should be noted that this is a high-capital intensive sector, of which the benefits will only be realised in the long run and eventually lift and anchor the economy,” Kwakwa said in Windhoek on Tuesday during a courtesy visit to President Hage Geingob.
“What can actually lift the country in its current form, is to make concerted efforts in livestock value addition and boost the market. In addition, the SME sector is an integral part, as they can provide employment and contribute to GDP, in the short term as we look forward to the long-term benefits from the oil, gas and green hydrogen.”
This comes as Namibia is banking on the green hydrogen and oil and gas sectors to be key drivers of the country’s economic recovery.
“The World Bank was there to assist with the green hydrogen strategy which was being crafted by the government as it entered an agreement with Hyphen Hydrogen Energy. So, we are here to engage and explore sectors where we can create partnerships, not only monetary, but providing technical and expertise on how Namibia can uplift itself and achieve some of its developmental objectives,” Kwakwa said.
The World Bank’s Regional Vice President commended Namibia for creating a sovereign wealth fund, saying it was a step in the right direction in safeguarding investments and benefits from natural resources.
Kwakwa urged Namibia to learn from other countries leveraging from a similar initiative.
She outlined a number of areas such as education, housing, digital transformation, climate change and energy, as sectors that the World Bank can collaborate in, in an effort to uplift Namibia’s socioeconomic standards.
In addition, she said the World Bank could assist in how Namibia can improve education efficiency after realising that there is a mismatch between the huge investment and a fairly poor performance outcome.
Similarly, the World Bank pledged to assist with digitisation, noting that many Namibians cannot afford to access the internet due to the high cost, even though the country has a high rate of digital accessibility.
“The issue for Namibia is how you can drive the price down as an enabler to reach and provide access to the grassroots level. In addition, there is a need for the government to make use of a coordinated e-governance system,” she said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said Namibia has made significant strides in digitisation through an Integrated Digital Strategy, however, the challenge is that systems are not inter-connected.
“We have the systems in place, so now it is about coordinating them so that they can start communicating with one another. For instance, we have digitised the income tax filing system,” she said.
Reacting to the level of education and the lack of skills, Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said the government has introduced an internship incentive in order to promote skills transfer, as well as funding provision for those furthering studies so that there can be a skills match.
