ABOUT THIS COUNTRY
Namibia, a country in southwest Africa, is distinguished by the Namib Desert along its Atlantic Ocean coast. The country is home to diverse wildlife, including a significant cheetah population. The capital, Windhoek, and coastal town Swakopmund contain German colonial-era buildings such as Windhoek’s Christuskirche, built in 1907. In the north, Etosha National Park’s salt pan draws game including rhinos and giraffes.
The economy is projected to grow by 2.6% in 2021 and 3.3% in 2022, on the back of a steady recovery in financial services, tourism, retail and wholesale trade, and the mining industries—combined with an improvement in the regional and global economic environment. But the economy still faces substantial risks and challenges in the short to medium term.
Reasons to invest in Namibia:
- Favourable investment climate: Namibia is a politically stable democracy and one of the most competitive economies in the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region. The country also outperforms most of its regional peers in the ease of doing business rankings.
- Positive growth outlook: Namibia’s positive medium-term outlook is driven by projections of robust growth in the agricultural and mining sectors. As a result, the economy is expected to recover from the sluggish performance of only 1.6% growth in 2016-17, with forecasts of around 3% over the 2018-19 period – outperforming the Southern African region’s forecast of 1.9% over the same period.
- Strong bilateral ties: Given an increasingly protectionist global trade environment, it has become even more important for countries to recognise the mutual benefits of freer trade. Namibia boasts membership of key economic and trade communities, including the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Mining and energy
Agriculture
Fishing
Tourism
Manufacturing and infrastructure
Mining and energy
- Diamond production totalled 1.5 million carats (300 kg) in 2000, generating nearly $500 million in export earnings. Other important mineral resources are uranium, copper, lead, and zinc. The country also extracts gold, silver, tin, vanadium, semiprecious gemstones, tantalite, phosphate, sulphur, and mines salt.
- Namibia is the fourth-largest exporter of nonfuel minerals in Africa, the world’s fifth-largest producer of uranium, and the producer of large quantities of lead, zinc, tin, silver, and tungsten. Namibia has two uranium mines that are capable of providing 10% of the world mining output. The mining sector employs only about 3% of the population while about half of the population depends on subsistence agriculture for its livelihood. Namibia normally imports about 50% of its cereal requirements; in drought years food shortages are a major problem in rural areas.
Agriculture
- About half of the population depends on agriculture (largely subsistence agriculture) for its livelihood, but Namibia must still import some of its food. Although per capita GDP is five times the per capita GDP of Africa’s poorest countries, the majority of Namibia’s people live in rural areas and exist on a subsistence way of life. Namibia has one of the highest rates of income inequality in the world, due in part to the fact that there is an urban economy and a more rural cash-less economy. The inequality figures thus take into account people who do not actually rely on the formal economy for their survival. Although arable land accounts for only 1% of Namibia, nearly half of the population is employed in agriculture
Fishing
- The clean, cold South Atlantic waters off the coast of Namibia are home to some of the richest fishing grounds in the world, with the potential for sustainable yields of 1.5 million metric tonnes per year. Commercial fishing and fish processing is the fastest-growing sector of the Namibian economy in terms of employment, export earnings, and contribution to GDP.
- The main species found in abundance off Namibia are pilchards (sardines), anchovy, hake, and horse mackerel. There also are smaller but significant quantities of sole, squid, deep-sea crab, rock lobster, and tuna.
Tourism
Tourism is a major contributor (14.5%) to Namibia’s GDP, creating tens of thousands of jobs (18.2% of all employment) directly or indirectly and servicing over a million tourists per annum. The country is among the prime destinations in Africa and is known for ecotourism which features Namibia’s extensive wildlife
Manufacturing and infrastructure
- In 2000, Namibia’s manufacturing sector contributed about 20% of GDP. Namibian manufacturing is inhibited by a small domestic market, dependence on imported goods, limited supply of local capital, widely dispersed population, small skilled labour force and high relative wage rates, and subsidised competition from South Africa.
- Walvis Bay is a well-developed, deepwater port, and Namibia’s fishing infrastructure is most heavily concentrated there. The Namibian Government expects Walvis Bay to become an important commercial gateway to the Southern African region.
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