‘Upper middle income’ classification irks Geingob
The President HE Dr Hage Geingob said the ‘upper middle income’ classification continues to disadvantage Namibia’s ability to access soft loans.
Geingob while delivering his state of the nation address in Parliament on Thursday said while Namibia is unable to secure soft loans due to the classification, other countries regarded as less developed are eligible to receive grant funding.
“We have maintained that while the concept of upper middle-income countries is valid, the application, which takes our GDP and divides it by our small population, thus deriving a high per capita income, is a flawed formula that requires urgent reconsideration,” Geingob stressed.
The President instead suggested that measures such as the UNDP Human Development Index provides a more accurate assessment of development per capita.
Namibia’s UNDP Human Development Index value for 2018 is 0.645, which put the country in the medium human development category, positioning it at 130 out of 189 countries and territories.
“Such a contextual criteria-based reclassification will help developing countries like Namibia to effectively redress historical structural imbalances,” Geingob said.
Caption: President Hage Geingob also raised the ‘upper middle income’ classification issue during his telephonic conversation with the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau. (Image: State House of Namibia).
