Botswana remains Namibia’s largest export market in September
The trade composition by partner showed that Botswana remained Namibia’s largest export market, whereas South Africa was the primary source of imports during September this year.
The composition of the export basket for September mainly comprised minerals such as precious stones (diamonds), uranium, copper ores, concentrates, and non-monetary gold.
“Fish continued to be the only non-mineral commodity within the top five products exported,” NSA statistician general, Alex Shimuafeni said in a statement.
On the other hand, the import basket mainly comprised petroleum oils, precious stones, motor vehicles for the transportation of goods, medicaments, and wheat.
Shimuafeni said analysis for the commodity of the month under study focused on the exportation and importation of rice.
“For September, Namibia did not export any rice whereas, on the demand side, the value of rice imported into the country was valued at N$20.1 million of which most was sourced from South Africa and India,” he said.
Meanwhile, the current account continues to record deficits, indicating a continuous net financial outflow in the economy. The current account had a deficit of N$6.8 billion in 2Q2022, compared to a deficit of N$7.4 billion in the previous quarter and a deficit of N$3.1 billion in 2Q2021. Worsening trade deficits and higher outflows of primary income (i.e. employee compensation and net investment income) weigh on the current account balance, as import payments rise more than growth in local export earnings. As a share of GDP, the current account balance was recorded at 14.0% in 2Q2022, compared to 15.5% in 1Q2022 and 7.1% in 2Q2021.
According to analysts at Simonis Storm Securities, going forward, they do expect continued trade deficits to be recorded due to a deteriorating global growth outlook that will likely weigh on Namibia’s export potential.
“We see export orders and manufacturing Purchasing Managers Indices (PMIs) on a downward trend in several of Namibia’s key trading partners,” they concluded.
