The local economy remains under immense pressure to set itself on a path of recovery. This is coupled with challenges beyond the country's reach and self-inflicted drawbacks such as the lack of policy implementation.
The Institute of Public Policy Research held a presentation on the state of the economy.
Robin Sherbourne, IPPR Research Associate, gave a presentation on the reasons for the ailing Namibian economy and what needs to be done to fix it.
The local economy had been flourishing and enjoying its glory days since 2010, with a growth rate of around 6%. But, that honeymoon came crashing in in 2014/15, and the tables started turning, the situation becoming worse between 2016 and 2020, sending it into the doldrums since then, with COVID-19 adding to its impact.
All these have been made worse by the investment environment that has been on a long-term decline since 2014.
The lack of job creation in Namibia is also among the reasons the economy is in a nosedive. Even before the much-blamed COVID-19 pandemic, Namibia had already lost 12 thousand jobs before 2018.
While the public believes the country has lost control of the public finances, the international community is also saying the same through the credit rating agencies that have been downgrading Namibia's creditworthiness since 2016.
The main question at the centre of all these is why is growth eluding Namibia? This question has two sets of answers that are events outside Namibia's control, such as the fall of uranium prices after the Fukushima disaster in 2011, and the closure of some mines such as Trekkopje, Langer Heinrich, Okorusu, Matchless, Otjihase, Tchudi, and Skorpion. A slowdown in neighbouring countries' economies, such as that of Angola and South Africa in 2016, cannot be ignored either.
The second reason is that when chickens come home to roost, the local economy suffers from self-inflicted pain, which comes with the question of whether Namibia takes its own policies seriously.
The final question is, where is the economy heading from here? There are key events that are still standing in the way of recovery; among others, the war in Ukraine, climbing global interest rates, recession in high-income countries, and zero COVID policy in China, as well as Namibia's limited revenues.