The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) and the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (NAMFISA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on financial services data exchange and other areas of collaboration.

March 2023 will be remembered as a month plagued by bank runs and bank failures in financial circles. Among three regional bank failures in the United States, the failure of Silicon Valley Bank marked the largest bank collapse since the global financial crisis.

The Bank of Namibia (BoN) has declared a dividend of N$413.7 million to the State Revenue Fund, which is consistent with the dividend declared in the previous financial year.

The announcement was made during the official launch of the central bank’s 2022 Annual Report, where Governor Johannes !Gawaxab noted that the Bank's financial performance for FY2022 had significantly improved compared to FY2021.

 "The financial performance of the Bank for FY2022 improved significantly  compared to FY2021. Favorable interest rates during 2022 and the increase in the  Bank’s reserves balance contributed to the improvement in the Bank’s financial  performance," said !Gawaxab.

In 2022, the Bank executed its first year of the three-year Strategic Plan 2022-2024.

"The plan sets the direction to be followed and establishes clear priorities to align  departments towards a common goal. Moreover, the plan envisions a digitalisation  transformation of the Bank with a fully modernised financial system, maximising its  contribution in restoring economic growth and sustaining economic development," said !Gawaxab.

He added that the apex bank is committed to achieving its strategic objectives as outlined, towards becoming a leading central bank that continues to be dedicated to the prosperity of Namibia.

On the fiscal front, !Gawaxab noted that the budget deficit narrowed during the FY2022/23, while debt continued to rise over the same period.

“The narrowing of the deficit to an estimated 5.2% of GDP is ascribed to an increase in revenue collection. This resulted from increases in income tax on individuals, and diamond mining and non-mining companies, coupled with dividends declared by public enterprises,” he said.

Looking ahead, BoN notes that growth performance of the domestic economy is expected to weaken during 2023 and 2024, in line with lower global demand and reduced consumer spending power.

“Real GDP growth is estimated to slow down to 3% and 2.9% in 2023 and 2024, respectively, from 4.6% in 2022,” the Governor said.

Despite this, !Gawaxab said the banking industry in Namibia remained profitable, liquid, and well-capitalized, "return on assets and return on equity increased, presenting an improvement in profitability."

He also noted that the industry had observed an improvement in both the capital adequacy and liquidity position, which remained above the statutory minimum requirements.

The ratio of non-performing loans to total loans stood at 5.6% at the end of December 2022, lower than 6.4 percent recorded a year earlier.

Other highlights of the past year include a rise of 8.4% in the stock of international reserves to N$47.6 billion (5.7 months of import cover) at the end of 2022.

The Bank pursued a contractionary monetary policy during 2022 "to strike a balance between anchoring inflation expectations and supporting the domestic economic recovery."

 Meanwhile, Namibia's economic growth improved significantly to 4.6% in 2022 from 3.5% in 2021, even as Namibia's current account deficit as a percentage of GDP widened to 12.3% during 2022 from 9.9% in 2021.

We continue with our series on financial worries, their implications on the lives of those that live in their midst and how we can overcome them to live a worry-free financial life. In this edition, we tackle the worries of living paycheck to paycheck, where a person relies on their monthly paychecks to meet their financial obligations, with no savings left over.