Central Bank revises domestic economic growth to 1.5%
The domestic economy is expected to grow by 1.5% in 2021, and to improve further in 2022, according to the Bank of Namibia’s recently released Economic Outlook Update for December.
According to the central bank, the economy is expected to recover moderately during 2021 and to improve further in 2022, supported by better growth for the mining industry and most tertiary
industries.
“The latest projection of 1.5% growth for 2021 represents a marginal improvement when compared to the 1.4% published in the August 2021 Economic Outlook,” the bank said.
Meanwhile, the BoN said risks to domestic growth remain dominated by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic but also include persistently low international prices for some of Namibia’s export commodities and climatic swings.
“Risks to domestic growth are dominated by travel restrictions that are still in place for many countries exacerbated by new waves of coronavirus infections and the pace of vaccinations in Namibia. The latest variant known as Omicron has led to tighter travel restrictions, especially affecting Southern African countries. Other notable risks to domestic growth outlook include low international prices for some of Namibia’s export commodities such as uranium and climatic swings,” the central bank concluded.
