Namibia records highest GDP contraction
Pandemic-ridden 2020 has recorded the biggest contraction ever recorded in Namibia as the economy contracted by 8% bringing the value of GDP in real terms to N$133.7 billion compared to N$145.3 billion registered in 2019, recording a decline by N$11.6 billion.
This is according to the Preliminary National Account 2020 released by the Namibia Statistics Agency on 31 March 2021. In nominal terms, the country’s GDP stood at N$176.3 billion relative to N$181.6 billion registered in the previous year, shedding off N$ 5.2 billion.
This is the highest annual contraction on record (1981-2020). The second highest was in 1993, when the economy contracted by 1.6%.
“The poor performance is evident across the entire sectors of the economy due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent measures that was put in place for the country to mitigate and contain the spread of the virus,” Statistician-General Alex Shimuafeni said.
The sectors that were most affected were hotels and restaurants (-33.1%); transport and storage (-22.4%); administrative and support services (-14.5%); wholesale and retail trade (-11.7%); and financial and insurance services (-11.7%).
The sectors that contributed the highest to the nominal GDP were public administration and defence (11.6%); manufacturing (11%); education (10.9%); mining (10.1%); wholesale and retail trade (9.6%); agriculture, forestry and fishing (9%).
The negative impact of the pandemic in 2020 was seen worldwide. On continental level, Africa’s GDP is estimated to have shrank by 2.1% in 2020, according to the Africa Economic Outlook 2021 report. Neighbouring South Africa’s economy declined by 7% in 2020, according to Statistics South Africa.
According to the World Economic Outlook report of January 2021, the global economy is estimated to have contracted by 3.5% in 2020.
