The Office of the Prime Minister aims to uplift small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across the country and have these vendors become suppliers of drought relief food in their communities. 

The programme will commence in April.

The initiative will see retailers recruited to supply drought relief foods such as cooking oil, canned fish, and flour within communities.

To this end, the |Khomas Regional Council, business communities, and the Office of the Prime Minister engaged on what retailers would require to qualify as a drought relief food supplier.

The Bank of Namibia (BoN) wants credit extension decisions to be taken locally, a move it says is not against foreign investment.

The Bank's Governor, Johannes !Gawaxab says the amount of credit extended to locals currently, especially Small and Medium Enterprises, is quite low.

The central bank is thus proposing amendments to the law to enable it to authorise Namibians to make credit extension decisions.