The Bank of Namibia's Governor Johannes !Gawaxab says there are no plans for the country to delink the Namibian dollar from the South African Rand.

He made the remark at the Monetary Policy Dialogue held in Windhoek on Thursday.

!Gawaxab says the peg of the Namibian dollar to the South African Rand is still in the best interest of Namibia; hence, there are no plans to delink the two currencies.

The inflation rate, he said, is said to have accelerated over the first three months of 2023 relative to the corresponding period in 2022.

Namibia's average inflation rose to 7.1% from 4.5% during the same period last year.

"We also look at the administrated prices because people are telling us that this is all imported inflation, but from January 2009 to April 2023, the administrated price inflation rate in Namibia exceeded the headline inflation rate with the former increase of 104% compared to the consumer price, which is about 102%, so the rise in the price of electricity, water, sewage services, refuse collection, and fuel levy taxes contribute to the overall administrated prices, even data, which is expensive, so we need to ask the question: is it not only imported inflation if it's an issue of combination as there is an element of domestic inflation?"

Domestic issues improved during 2022 relative to 2021, as annual growth in Namibia's GDP rose to 4.6% in 2022 from 3.5% in 2021. This was due to stronger growth rates in primary and tertiary industries and a rebound in the secondary industry.

!Gawaxab also expressed concern over the country's private sector credit extension, saying that there has been a decline in the demand for credit by the business sector due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Namibia's stock of international reserves remained sufficient to support the currency peg and meet the country's international financial obligations.

At the end of March this year, the stock of international reserves amounted to N$49 billion, up from N$47 billion in February.