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Construction dominates loan book

Development Bank of Namibia Chief Executive Officer, Martin Inkumbi

Development Bank of Namibia Chief Executive Officer Martin Inkumbi announced that the bank approved 72.9 million in financial loans for the construction sector, in the first quarter of 2015.

The construction was followed by education with N$37.1 million and financial and intermediation and wholesale and retail trade and repairs, with N$17 million each, dominated the Bank’s loan book.
Speaking at the DBN’s preliminary results for 2014 and DBN loan approvals for 2015 at a media briefing , Inkumbi said in 2014, 56% (N$805.5 million) of the Bank’s approvals were allocated to nine large scale projects, in construction, meat processing, power distribution infrastructure, power generation, printing and financial services.
“Large scale and infrastructure assets made up 83% of the Bank’s loan book at the end of 2014. Manufacturing amounted to 21% of the Bank’s loan book and SME’s received 17% of total approvals,” he said.
DBN’s loan and investment portfolio grew by 30%, and total assets rose by 22% to N$2.91 billion. Inkumbi added that enterprises owned by previously disadvantaged Namibians received 49.4% of the loans to private enterprises, and that enterprises owned by young entrepreneurs (18 to 35 years of age) received 8.6% of the Bank’s allocations, and female entrepreneurs received 10.2%.
In the first quarter of 2015, DBN approved loans to the value of N$189.1 million. “The approvals are projected to affect 1,539 jobs. Of these, 499 are expected to be new jobs, 643 temporary jobs and 397 retained jobs. Of the approvals, 89.1% was allocated to previously disadvantaged Namibians, allocations to enterprises owned by women amounted to 33% and allocations to youth enterprises made up 19.7% of the approvals,” said Inkumbi.
There was a significant increase in loan approvals in 2014 with N$1.4 billion as compared to N$840.1 million in the previous year. The 2014 loan approvals financed 343 enterprises, therefore creating 2,874 new jobs, 4,040 temporary jobs and retaining 4,201 existing jobs.
Approvals with national impact amounted to N$355.4 million with the Erongo region receiving the greatest amount of regional approvals, totalling N$447.4 million, followed by Khomas with N$253.9 million and Omusati with N$123 million.
In the first quarter of 2015, approvals with national impact amounted to N$15,7 million with the Khomas region receiving the biggest amount of regional approvals, totalling N$74 million, followed by the Erongo region with N$21.3 million and Oshikoto with N$15.1 million. N$89.9 million was approved for the secondary industry and N$96.2 million for the tertiary industry and a loan of N$3 million was approved for the primary industry.

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