The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) says during the third quarter of 2024, the size of the economy stood at N$61.6 billion in nominal terms, reflecting an expansion of N$5.3 billion from N$56.3 billion recorded in the same period of 2023.
In real terms, the domestic economy grew by 2.8% during the third quarter of 2024 compared to 3.1% growth registered in the parallel quarter of 2023.
NSA Statistician-General Alex Shimuafeni said the growth was primarily driven by the tertiary industries, which saw a 4.9% increase in real value added during the third quarter of 2024.
“This is an improvement when compared to a 1.9% growth recorded in the same period of 2023. Key performing sectors during the review period were health (16.0%), transport and storage (7.9%), and financial service activities (7.1%),” he said.
Shimuafeni noted that the secondary industries experienced slower growth of 1.5% in real value-added, compared to a 4.4% increase in the third quarter of 2023.
“This was mainly due to the manufacturing and construction sectors, which grew by 2.6% and 1.6%, compared to declines of 9.4% and 7.3% noted in 2023, respectively,” he said.
On the other hand, primary industries recorded a decline of 4.4% in real value-added, contrasting with a 13.8% growth recorded in the same quarter of 2023.
“This downturn was driven by the mining and quarrying and agriculture and forestry’ sectors, which posted declines of 6.7% and 6.3%, respectively. The poor performance is owed to reduced livestock marketed, emanating from lower stock and drought impact, along with a decrease in diamond production,” he noted.
On the demand side, private final consumption expenditure in real terms grew by 0.5%, a slower pace when compared to the 1.0% increase recorded in the same period of 2023.
However, the government’s final consumption expenditure rose by 5.7%, surpassing the 0.7% decline witnessed in 2023, mainly due to higher public sector compensation.
“Gross fixed capital formation declined by 7.2%, in contrast to the huge growth of 92.8% observed in the same quarter of 2023. Export of goods and services expanded by 19.3%, more than the 7.3% increase recorded in the import of goods and services, leading to a reduction in the external balance of goods and services deficit,” he noted.
