Economy expected to grow by around 3%, inflation projected to average around 5.9% this year – BoN
The economy is expected to grow by around 3% this year, the central bank said Wednesday.
According to the Bank of Namibia (BoN) governor, Johannes !Gawaxab, domestic economic activity rebounded in the first four months of 2022 compared to 2021.
“The recovery was mainly driven by increased activity in the mining, agriculture, transport, tourism, wholesale and retail trade, as well as communication sectors,” he added.
Gawaxab said, on the contrary, that the positive performance was offset by a continued decline in construction activity over the same period, as both public and private construction work slackened further.
“Risks to the domestic economic outlook in the medium term continue to be dominated by the Russia-Ukraine war, climatic swings, global supply chain disruptions, higher oil and food prices, and the possible emergence of new COVID-19 variants, coupled with national vaccine hesitancy,” he said.
Meanwhile, the annual inflation rate stood at 5.4% in May compared to 3.8% recorded in May 2021, according to statistics released by the country’s statistics agency (NSA) on Wednesday.
According to !Gawaxab overall inflation is projected to average around 5.9% for 2022, from the previously projected 6%.
