The Chief Executive Officer of the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB) has expressed discontent over Namibia's performance in the 2023 Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies.
Nangula Uaandja called on mining companies to work with NIPDB to improve Namibia's ranking by Fraser.
The 2023 Fraser Institute Survey of Mining Companies covered 86 jurisdictions, assessing their overall investment attractiveness index based on policy perception and pure mineral resources.
Namibia's position on the overall Investment Attractiveness Index declined by three points from 59 in 2022 to 56 in 2023.
On this index, Namibia was ranked 42 out of 86 jurisdictions surveyed, compared to 38 out of 62 jurisdictions in 2022.
In the African context, Namibia ranked fourth out of 22 African jurisdictions surveyed, compared to sixth out of 16 jurisdictions surveyed in 2022.
"Of course, I don't like where we are as Namibia and would like to work with the mining industry to see how we can improve Namibia's ranking. Someone said sometimes the ranking can also be caused by a gap in information in the sense that the government is doing this and the industry is doing that; sometimes it's the late implementation of policies that have been announced, and sometimes it's something that was announced and the industry and government engaged in, and then it is not communicated, and sometimes it's things that the government does to achieve a certain objective that the industry does not appreciate, and we need to make peace with that."
Namibia's ranking is said to have declined in recent years due to policy uncertainty, including local ownership requirements and changing investment laws.
Uaandja therefore says there is a need for a whole-of-government approach to improve the country's investment attractiveness.
"We at NIPDB want to work with the industry and ministry to work with and improve Namibia's ranking. But we need to know what the real issues that should be sorted are. If you look at where we are and Botswana, Botswana is ranking 15 globally and no. 1 in Africa, but we are 4th in Africa, and we would like to change that because I am sure if it is about attractiveness, we can do something that will put us in line with Botswana because we have seen the decline in the ranking. There are areas we are doing well in, especially when you look at labour laws and the quality of geological data. So the approach is we need the whole of government."
An independent tax consultant, Johan Nel, called on the government to review some of the tax laws in favour of investors.
"Then there will be an assessed loss limitation, and I am hoping that the Chambers of Mines is talking to the Ministry of Mines because this will have a big implication on mining companies because, in the current proposal that I have seen, you are only allowed to carry forward N$1 million of sale losses. So if you think of a mining start-up with all the development expenditure, you will lose a lot of money in this perspective without being able to carry that forward. They give you 10 years, but the problem is the N$1 million per year. That is something that needs serious attention."