Economist Robert McGregor has cautioned that economic growth could slow significantly if the government does not refocus on its core priorities and create more space for private sector participation. 

Speaking on Inside the Chambers, McGregor described this year's mid-year budget review as "not terrible but not great", noting that while fiscal discipline has been maintained, the country's economic outlook has weakened.

"But if you dig into the numbers, you can see that things have started to turn a little bit for the worse after a few, I guess, easier or better years. And so overall, it's not a terrible budget. I wouldn't think it's, from my perspective, not a great budget. I think there are a lot more realities that we need to face and a lot more priorities that we need to focus on, given the limited funding. I've seen worse in the past; I've seen better. But I think the underlying message for me is that things are starting to look somewhat worse than they have before."

He highlighted that the Ministry of Finance revised the growth forecast downward from 4.5% earlier this year to 3.3%, warning that this trend mirrors the 2014-2015 economic slowdown.

"I think that there's a very big risk that growth could slow very dramatically again. It's starting to feel a lot like where we sat almost 10 years ago, the 2014-15 era, when we came off a few years of high growth. We will see some of the government now having a revenue shock, having to pull back or having to sort of step on the brakes a bit. So for me, the worry is that the 3% growth is now fine. It's at about the population growth level. So on a per capita basis, at least things aren't getting worse. But looking forward, I think there's a big risk that growth can slow quite dramatically. And once we get a bit more high-frequency data towards the end of this year, I'm worried there's a chance that we might need to revise our numbers down a little bit more again."

McGregor noted that while keeping the total appropriation at N$89.4 billion reflects fiscal control, the country's debt servicing costs remain high, limiting the government's ability to fund new priorities.

"The best way forward is to recognise that government has limited funding availability and limited capacity and so allow the private sector to step in and do what it needs to do to grow the economy, which provides greater revenues for government through the taxes, to drive employment, which needs to come from the private sector because the public sector can't do it sustainably."

The debate on the 2025/2026 mid-year budget review and fiscal policy statement continues in the National Assembly.