Economy grows 2.3% in Q2

The local economy expanded at a slow pace in the second quarter of this year, growing by 2.3% compared to 12.3% recorded in the same period last year.
Although the growth in the second quarter was very slow, it was, however still slightly above the revised 1.9% growth registered in the first quarter of this year.
The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) said it had revised the first quarter growth figures from 1.2% to 1.9% mainly due to changes in agriculture figures which were revised upwards from 35% to 45.3% as well as real estate and business services that were revised upwards from 2.9% to 8.2%.
The slow growth in the second quarter came from the hotels and restaurants, construction, and mining and quarrying sectors that declined in real value added by 31.2%, 17.7% and 10.4% respectively.
The sectors that performed well during the period were agriculture at 42.3%, wholesale and retail services at 12.8% and fishing 11.7%.
The agriculture sector saw a strong growth of 42.3% in real value added compared to 10% in the same period last year. This growth is attributed to the livestock sub-sector that increased by 81.1%. The growth in the sub-sector came from the number of cattle and small stock marketed that increased by 138.4% and 17.1% mainly due to farmers selling off their livestock because of the current drought.
Growth in value added of the fishing sector is estimated to have slowed to 11.7% from 24.9% in the same quarter of 2012. The slower performance in the sector was mainly influenced by demersal fisheries landings that declined by 1.4%. The mid-water fisheries, on the other hand, performed well with landings expanding by 46.1%.
Mining and quarrying saw a 10.4% decline in value added compared to a 67.1% increase in the corresponding period. The poor performance has been attributed to declines in the diamond mining and metal ores sub-sectors that declined in real value added by 12.6% and 11.2% respectively.
However sub-sectors uranium and other mining and quarrying registered moderate growth rates of 7.6% and 8.1% respectively.
The manufacturing sector didn’t fare any better with the sector recording a marginal growth of 1.1% compared to 20.3% in the second quarter of 2012.
The construction sector registered a decline of 17.7% as reflected in the value of buildings completed and the value of building plans approved that declined by 27.3% and 39.1% respectively. However, construction works for general government increased by 89.8% in real value added compared to last year.
There was also a mixed performance in the tertiary sector with the wholesale and retail trade sector recording a growth of 12.8% compared to 16.6% in the second quarter of 2012. The hotels and restaurants sector declined by 31.2% mainly due to the decline in the number of bed nights sold and room nights sold that declined by 30.1% and 31.3% respectively.
The transport and communication sector also declined by 2.5% in real value added compared to an increase of 8.1% in the corresponding period. Financial intermediation increased by 3.2% in the second quarter compared to 7.9% the previous year. This slow growth was mainly on account of the slow 2.1% growth in the insurance sub-sector down from 10.2% in 2012.