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Jabu targets unbanked with payment wallet plans
Technology

Jabu targets unbanked with payment wallet plans

May 27, 2022

Jabu, a Namibian start-up, is set to launch its own payments wallet, Jwallet, to bring many of the country’s unbanked population into the formal banking system, while bringing convenience to its operations.

Trigon enters into N$39.1m Kombat loan
Mining

Trigon enters into N$39.1m Kombat loan

May 27, 2022

Trigon Metals Inc has secured a N$39.1 million (US$2.5 million) loan from Sprott Mining Inc to fund its Kombat Mine operations in Namibia and for working capital purposes.

PSG forecasts drop in real GDP
Economy

PSG forecasts drop in real GDP

May 27, 2022

Namibia is expected to record a real gross domestic product growth (GDP) of 3,5% this year, down from the 4,2% previously forecasted. 

According to a PSG Namibia economic analysis for 2022, the short term outlook is attributed to a number of factors including the performance of the agricultural and mining sectors. 

PSG predicts the agricultural sector will continue being pulled down by stock numbers that were depleted by years of successive droughts and will take years to rebuild. 

“The livestock industry in southern Namibia is also facing a major challenge from a brown locust invasion that is destroying pastures,” said the PSG report noted.

 Although the recent good rainfalls should ensure an above-average maize harvest in 2022, it could fall short of the previous season's record-breaking performance, said the PSG report.

 However, the industrial sector is set to benefit from planned expansions of existing diamond and copper operations; the possible resuscitation of mothballed zinc and uranium mines; the development of new ‘battery mineral’ mines and increased oil and gas exploration. 

“We expect the external environment to be supportive of Namibia’s industrial exports in 2022, barring a major escalation of the Ukraine war and prolonged lockdowns in China,” said PSG. 

With the government out to leverage Namibia’s excellent solar power and green hydrogen potential, sanctions on Russian gas exports could help to expedite the switch to greener energy sources, noted the report.

PSG predicts that the services sector will continue to be hamstrung by frugal fiscal expenditure, deteriorating real disposable incomes, higher unemployment, and high consumer indebtedness.

“We expect tourism to recover gradually to pre-pandemic levels by 2024. In March the hospitality industry's occupancy rate stood at 28%, eight percentage points higher than the same month in 2021, but trailing the pre-pandemic occupancy rate of 45%,” said the report said. 

The analysis added that the outlook for the current account deficit had worsened, mainly due to rising global oil and fuel prices as well as continued global supply chain constraints. 

“Nevertheless, we forecast the current account deficit to narrow slightly to 8.0% of GDP in 2022 from an estimated deficit of 9.2% of GDP in 2021, mainly due to higher exports and tourism earnings.”

Travel service earnings according to PSG are recovering at a tepid pace, in line with the slow upturn in global tourism due to the recurrent emergence of new coronavirus variants.

“Although we expect goods exports to grow by 17% in dollar terms this year on the back of the arrival of Debmarine Namibia’s new mega diamond mining vessel and higher mineral prices, this will be partly offset by higher import costs,” said the report.

Furthermore, low Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) revenues are projected to continue to weigh on the performance of the external balance until Q1 2023. 

Following another round of fuel price hikes in April, domestic fuel prices have now shot up by nearly N$3,50/litre since the start of the year and the transport price inflation will likely remain near double digits throughout most of the year due to the increase in fuel prices. 

The prices of wheat, maize and fertilisers have also surged in the wake of the Russian war, which will exert upward pressure on food price inflation. 

“Given these developments, we have raised our inflation forecast to 5.3% in 2022 from 4.7% previously and because of rising domestic inflation and the necessity of keeping pace with South African interest rate movements (the Namibia dollar is pegged one-to-one with the rand), we expect the Bank of Namibia to raise the repo rate by a further 100 bps to 5.25%. 

The Ministry of Finance's revenue collection targets and expenditure outlays reflect a conservative growth outlook.

Nevertheless, modest fiscal slippage is expected in the medium term amid a slump in customs revenues, rising interest payments, and a tepid pace of reforms aimed to improve revenue collection. 

The successful execution of the budget also rests heavily on continued restraint in personnel expenses and a reduction in goods and services expenditures. 

“We forecast the budget deficit to narrow moderately from a gaping deficit of 9.1% of GDP in the 2021/22 fiscal year (FY, ending in March) to one of 6.0% of GDP in the 2022/23 FY, thanks to improved tax revenue growth coupled with planned prudent public expenditure,” said the PSG report noted. 

The company added that the fiscal outlook had improved somewhat, thanks to expected higher mineral tax revenues and an upward revision to the level of nominal GDP.

NamRA offers tax payers further relief
Finance

NamRA offers tax payers further relief

May 27, 2022

The Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA) has extended its modified tax relief programme by another year to help taxpayers boost their operations which were significantly decimated by the coronavirus pandemic.

Cattle dominate Namibia’s agricultural sector
Agriculture

Cattle dominate Namibia’s agricultural sector

May 27, 2022

Cattle continue to be the mainstay of Namibia’s agricultural sector with two of the country’s financial institutions forecasting a 3.8 - 4% growth for the sector in 2022.

Bank of Namibia forecasts a 3.8% growth rate for the agricultural sector, with 4.5% growth forecasted for livestock farming, 3% for crop farming and 3.8% for fishing in 2022.

On the other hand, Agribank, whose mandate is to fund agricultural projects in the country, forecast a 4% growth in the agriculture sector for 2022.

Deloitte names first black female CEO at Africa unit
Africa-news

Deloitte names first black female CEO at Africa unit

May 27, 2022

Deloitte LLP appointed its first female Black chief executive officer to lead its African unit.

Glencore says bribery days are over. Now it must prove it
Africa-news

Glencore says bribery days are over. Now it must prove it

May 27, 2022

Glencore has closed the "cash desks" in London and Switzerland that once dispensed money for bribes. Employees implicated in sweeping, cross-border corruption investigations are gone. New safeguards are in place, and boss Gary Nagle says it’s a "different company."

BoN’s CBDC plans get WEF boost
LatestNews

BoN’s CBDC plans get WEF boost

May 26, 2022

Bank of Namibia (BoN) Governor, Johannes !Gawaxab says his participation at the 2022 World Economic Forum (WEF) has provided some insights into the central bank’s plans to establish a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

Namibian e-commerce startup JABU raises an additional N$236.4m in funding
LatestNews

Namibian e-commerce startup JABU raises an additional N$236.4m in funding

May 25, 2022

Namibian business to business e-commerce startup JABU has announced a N$236.4 million (U$15 million) Series A investment led by Tiger Global into the business.

The round, which closed sometime in March, is Tiger Global’s second investment in the B2B e-commerce space after backing Wasoko in its mega Series B round according to Techcrunch and comes after the business raised N$50.6 million (U$3.2 million) last year.

Other investors include Box Group, Knollwood and D Global Ventures. Some backers from its seed round: Afore Capital, Oldslip and FJ Labs also doubled down.

“This will allow us to continue growing, which brings our total capital and equity investment as a Namibian tech company to over US$18 million,” Jabu CEO David Akinin told delegates at a Namibian House event being hosted at the on-going World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday.

He also announced the company was engaging the Bank of Namibia and the Bank of Zambia to launch a payment wallet, JWallet, to solve payment and cash issues currently faced by the business.

The product will be launched as a standalone product and will allow merchants in Southern Africa to use their physical flows to offer cash withdrawals and deposit services for their customers.

Akinin founded JABU in mid-2020 to fix Namibia’s inefficient and almost nonexistent supply chain and distribution.

Its platform connects over 6,000 retailers to local and multinational suppliers such as Namibia Breweries Limited, Bokomo, Coca-Cola, Namib Mills and digitizes orders, payments and logistics.

The Namibian startup has its fleet of vehicles along with eight distribution centers.

 Suppliers using the platform have dashboards to see where their products are being delivered, check key performance indicators and book merchandising. They can also make advertising and marketing campaigns at shops, perform product giveaways and tap into merchandising revenue.

Jabu currently operates in five African countries.

Namibia proposes additional levy on ICT devices including mobile phones
LatestNews

Namibia proposes additional levy on ICT devices including mobile phones

May 24, 2022

Namibians could soon be asked to pay additional taxes on information and communication technologies (ICTs) gadgets as the Business and Intellectual Property Authority (BIPA) proposes a Bill that will charge an additional levy on imported devices such as mobile phones, computers, hard drives, printers, photocopy machines, scanners and USB sticks among others.

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