Foreign reserves still sufficient to cover 5.3 months of imports of goods and services – central bank
The country’s foreign reserves are currently sufficient to protect the peg of the Namibia Dollar to the South African Rand and meet the country’s international financial obligations, the central bank said this week.
As of March. 31, the stock of international reserves stood at N$33 billion, from N$32.2 billion reported in the previous Monetary Policy Committee statement, the Bank of Namibia said.
According to the interim governor, Ebson Uanguta, this amount of international reserves is estimated to cover 5.3 months of imports of goods and services.
Meanwhile, Uanguta said that domestic economic activity slowed during the first three months of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.
“The slowdown in growth was mainly reflected in declining economic activity in sectors such as mining, wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing, as well as tourism, with especially tourism arrivals falling back sharply,” he concluded.
