The Minister of Finance has announced an increase in social grants to cushion vulnerable members of society against the rising cost of food prices.

Iipumbu Shiimi made the much-welcomed announcement in Parliament on Tuesday as he delivered the mid-term budget for the years 2022 to 2023.

The Finance Minister said N$5.2 million has been added to the Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare's budget to make the increases possible.

Backdated to October 2022, the food bank recipients' grants will be increased from N$500 to N$600 per month.

The Minister of Finance, Iipumbu Shiimi, has tabled an additional budget of N$4 billion in the National Assembly for the financial year 2022–2023.

In his mid-term budget adjustment, Iipumbu increased the operational budget from N$56.6 billion to N$60.1 billion.

The development budget increased slightly from N$5 billion to N$5.5 billion.

Shiimi tabled this year's mid-term budget with a promising tone, with projected slight economic growth, improved tax collection, growing revenue generation, and downward revised national debts, among others.

Despite the introduction of the credit guarantee scheme for small and medium enterprises, SMEs, the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) feels more can be done to relax collateral and security requirements against loans.