Namibia Economy Slows

Namibia’s domestic economy has slowed in tandem with the regional averages, and the per capita incomes are stalling due to sluggish growth conditions during the 2016/17 financial year, AllAfrica reported. These are some of the problems Namibia’s Finance Minister Calle Schlettwein pointed out when he presented the mid-term budget review in the national assembly. Schlettwein also said that job gains figures narrowed and in some sectors such as construction, they have even been reversed. Market confidence, he pointed out, was at an all-time low and liquidity diminished, putting the financing of the budget deficit at risk. To manage the situation, Schlettwein said he would scale up the allocative efficiency needs to ensure that critical service delivery is not impaired by budgetary shortfalls. Schlettwein, however, said that the current conjecture of gradual growth and tightness of the fiscal adjustment path presents an opportunity for the policy framework which balances between the consolidation policy stance and providing for a package of policy actions to protect the gains made through consolidating expenditure.