Namibia’s economy grew by N$22.3 billion last year, resulting in an estimated size of N$206.2 billion, as compared to N$183.9 billion recorded in 2021, anchored by positive performance across all industries, latest data from the Namibia Statistics Agency show.
According to the statistics released on Wednesday, the domestic economy continues on a positive trajectory, recording a strong growth of 4.6% in 2022 compared to a growth of 3.5% posted in 2021 in real terms.
Alex Shimuafeni, the country’s Statistician General said the positive performance is observed across all the industries of the economy, of which major drivers are the primary industries which recorded double-digit growth of 12.9% in 2022 relative to a growth of 6.4% registered in the comparative year.
“The performance in the industries is attributed to the mining and quarrying sector under the subsector of diamond mining which posted a growth of 45.1% in 2022 relative to flat growth in 2021. The secondary industries rebounded from a contraction of 3.6% in real value added in 2021, to a strong performance of 3.3% in 2022,” Shimuafeni said on Wednesday.
He attributed the positive performance to recoveries in manufacturing and electricity and water sectors which posted 5% and 10% growth, following contractions recorded in 2021.
Real value added expanded in the tertiary industries, posting a growth of 2.2 percent compared to the growth of 1.8% recorded in 2021.
“On the expenditure side of accounts, private household consumption expenditure, which accounts for 78.2% of GDP, posted a growth of 14.4% against 12.7% measured in 2021. However, government spending on goods and services slowed to 0.7% from 1.5% recorded in 2021,” he stated.
In terms of Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF), Shimuafi said, it contracted from 18.4% to 10.7%. In relation to the external balance of goods and services, exports grew to 20 percent from 1.4% during 2021, largely driven by the increase in export of diamonds, live animals, fruits and manufactured products.
“In the same vein, import of goods and services grew by 23.6% in 2022, riding on the back of refined petroleum products and medical and related instruments, which increased in real terms by 108%t and 40.2%; compared to 32.1% and 28.6% registered in the preceding year, respectively,” said Shimuafeni.
In addition, Shimuafeni said for the period 2015 to 2022, Namibia’s Gross National Disposable Income (GNDI) has been consistently higher than the Gross National Income (GNI) because of net inflows in current transfers that have been influenced mainly by high receipts from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU).
“Gross National Income stood at N$200.3 billion in 2022 compared to N$179.7 billion recorded in 2021, representing an expansion of N$20.7 billion. Moreover, Gross National Disposable Income increased to N$215.9 billion during the period under review, from N$ 197.2 billion registered in the preceding year,” he stressed.
GNI is measured based on national income generated by factors of production both inside and outside of Namibia.
The Annual Accounts Report shows that Namibia’s gross savings stood at N$6.9 billion while investments amounted to N$29 billion.
“Gross saving is calculated as the difference between disposable income and final consumption expenditure. The more a country spends its national income on consumption, the less resources are available for investment and saving, and consequently for future production. Figure 3 depicts the performance of Gross Saving and Gross Fixed Capital Formation/Investment (GFCF) over time. In this regard, it means investment is supported by inflows from the rest of the world,” stated Shimuafeni.
