Funds to boost economic governance availed by African Development Bank
The government and the African Development Bank last week signed a loan agreement worth US$217.8 million to finance the second phase of the Namibia Economic Governance and Competitiveness Support Programme (EGCSP II).
According to a press statement from the Bank this week, the agreement was signed on 14 August by the Finance Minister, Carl Schlettwein and Dr. Josepine Ngure, Bank Deputy Director General, Southern Africa Regional development, on behalf of the Bank Group.
The programme aims to strengthen public financial management and improve the quality and efficiency of public sector spending in the country, while laying a solid foundation for industrialization through reforms to the business environment.
The signing follows Board approval of the second year programme and budget for the fiscal year 2018/19, at a meeting on 18 July.
The programme will support ongoing fiscal consolidation efforts and a wide range of reforms within national policy and legal frameworks, such as the Public Private Partnership Act, Namibia Revenue Agency Act, Namibia Industrial Development Agency Act and the Public Procurement Regulations. The Bank’s intervention will improve revenue collection, enhance efficiency in public spending, improve debt management and enhance investment facilitation framework for industrial and MSME development.
The EGCSP, together with other ongoing investment and development projects such as Namport, will contribute immensely to addressing emerging challenges, strengthening Namibia’s economic competitiveness and building a foundation for long-term sustainable economic growth and development.
Thanking the Bank for a speedy response to the government’s request, the Minister welcomed the flexibility of the loan and stressed the importance of strengthening institutional capacity for its implementation. Ngure reiterated the Bank’s commitment to supporting Namibia’s socioeconomic development.
Namibia’s Economic Governance and Competitiveness Support Programme is aligned with the Bank’s Country Strategy Paper for Namibia, its Ten-Year Strategy and its High 5s agenda
The signing of this latest agreement brings the Bank’s active portfolio in Namibia to 10 operations, valued at US$1.11 billion, making it the second largest portfolio in the Southern Africa Region.
