Namibia was negatively impacted by the 2008 global financial crisis, reversing years of strong economic performance and deteriorating both fiscal and external positions. Accordingly, the authorities have committed to undertake fiscal consolidation with a view to reduce the fiscal deficit to 2.6...

This report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC) data module provides an assessment of Namibia’s monetary statistics against the recommendations of the General Data Dissemination System complemented by an assessment of data quality based on the IMF’s Data Quality Assessment...

The Government of Namibia has a full equity share of four specialist or policy banking corporation. There are a large number of public nonfinancial corporations, in which the government has a part or full ownership share, including public utilities and Air Namibia, the national airline. There...

Namibia’s government has launched a major three-year fiscal initiative in 2011 aimed at increasing growth and employment. Public debt is rising rapidly, from a low base. The authorities intend to unwind the fiscal expansion in 2014. Fiscal consolidation would help keep public debt to a...

This Recent Economic Developments and Selected Economic Issues paper provides a broad overview of the structure of Namibia’s economy. It provides a detailed discussion of the structure and evolution of the productive base, recent trends in investment and savings performance, fiscal policies,...

In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries. Each report, prepared by a staff team after discussions with government officials, is published at the option of the member country

This paper reports economic developments in Namibia during the 1990s. Since the early 1990s, average GDP growth has been higher than in the previous decade, owing to the opening of two new diamond mines, the extension of the limits of Namibia’s coastal waters, and the rapid growth in...

The recent uptrend in Namibia’s current account surplus reflects an increase in public and private savings. Tighter domestic investment rules will not reduce capital outflows. The phasing and macroeconomic impact of regulatory changes requires careful scrutiny. Market-based incentives for...

The Southern African Customs Union (SACU), the oldest customs union in the world, comprises Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland (known as the BLNS countries), and South Africa. This Selected Issues paper analyzes how policy has responded to the positive SACU revenue shock. It discusses the...

This 2006 Article IV Consultation highlights that with generally prudent macroeconomic policies, Namibia has enjoyed robust growth, moderate inflation, and strong external surpluses. Growth is expected to increase to 41⁄2 percent in 2006, after 41⁄4 percent in 2005, owing in part to a...