PayPal has no immediate plans to enable its payout functionality in Namibia, despite growing demand from local users and continued engagement by Namibian authorities.
The Bank of Namibia has confirmed that while Namibians can open PayPal accounts and receive funds, the inability to withdraw money remains unresolved due to PayPal’s internal priorities.
“Namibia was unfortunately not one of the top priority countries based on their commercial plan and how they are looking at their local strategies,” said Barbara Dreyer, Director of the National Payment System and Exchange Control Department at the Bank of Namibia, during a recent briefing.
Last year, representatives from PayPal held meetings with the Bank of Namibia, the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB), and the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology to address the ongoing restrictions on PayPal’s payout function.
However, Dreyer noted that PayPal cited internal restructuring and limited technical capacity as reasons for their inaction, without providing a timeline for when the matter would be resolved.
“PayPal was rather non-committal to work with us in that regard, to say, okay, what is it that you can and cannot do? At the time when we engaged them, they said there were some bandwidth issues that they were experiencing,” she explained.
While regulatory barriers are often cited as obstacles for global payment providers entering African markets, Dreyer stressed that Namibia’s regulatory environment is not the issue.
“At this point in time, there is no regulatory stumbling block that prevents any international service provider from coming and providing services in Namibia. Our regulations are transparent; they are out on our networks. Any service provider, whether domestic or international, can engage the Bank of Namibia at any given point in time,” she said.
Despite continued efforts by Namibian authorities, further engagements with PayPal scheduled for 2025 have been delayed due to scheduling conflicts.
“We are currently still looking and planning to have further engagements with them for this year, and that has not happened due to schedules of different representatives not aligning,” Dreyer added.
Earlier this year, Members of Parliament called on the Bank of Namibia to intensify efforts to bring global digital payment platforms such as PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay to the country, arguing that access to these services is crucial for enabling young Namibians to earn income from international clients.
The push to enable access to international payment systems is part of wider efforts to integrate local creatives and digital entrepreneurs into the global economy by removing key barriers that continue to restrict online earnings.
