Namibia Forex Reserves at Five-Month Low

Namibia’s stock of foreign reserves declined at the end of November to a five-month low of 28.5 billion Namibian dollars ($2.31 billion), according to central bank monetary and banking statistics seen by Reuters on Sunday. The level of international reserves declined from 31.6 billion Namibian dollars ($2.56 billion) at the end of October, mainly due to exchange rate fluctuations and net commercial banks purchases of foreign currency, the Bank of Namibia said. Meanwhile, Namibia’s economic growth is expected to enter negative territory in 2017 compared to a growth of 1.1% last year, the International Monetary Fund said recently. The contraction comes as construction of large mining projects has been completed and as the government continues with its budget consolidation efforts. “After years of exceptional growth, the economy has entered an adjustment phase. Growth is expected to turn slightly negative in 2017,” the IMF said at the conclusion of the 2017 Article 1V Mission to Namibian.