Cybercrime remains one of the main challenges in addition to changes in legislation and regulation, which ranks as the number one risk for businesses in Namibia.

The risks were identified by company respondents interviewed for the 2023 Allianz Risk Barometer.

Cybercrime incidents such as IT outages, ransomware attacks, and data breaches rank at number four in Namibia and also rank as the most important risk globally for the second year running.

It also ranks as one of the top three risks in Kenya, South Africa, Morocco, France, and the UK.

Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty's Chief Underwriter says most companies see the cyber threat as the biggest ever, with cyber insurance claims remaining high.

Although there is no official national cybersecurity strategy in Namibia, the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) is busy developing one.

Towards the end of last year, the first-ever Cybersecurity Council was officially launched in Namibia to provide a forum for the financial industry to exchange ideas on tactical strategies to combat cyber fraud.

The barometer says the frequency of ransom attacks remains elevated this year, while the average cost of a data breach is at an all-time high at over N$60 million.

The risk barometer further lists changes in legislation and regulation as the number one risk for the country, with climate change coming in at number 2 and macro-economic developments in third place.

The Allianz Risk Barometer is an annual business risk ranking that has been published for 12 years consecutively.

A shortage of skilled workers, supply chain disruptions, and new technologies are further identified as challenges for Namibia.