Finance minister Iipumbu Shiimi said Namibians should rest assured that Namibia being greylisted now will not have any effect on the new industries.
“The confidence shown by investors in support for green energy initiatives in Namibia, one of the leading countries championing green hydrogen, is expected to continue. Countries that have been placed on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list for enhanced monitoring are not subject to any official sanctions,” he stated.
The minister made these remarks last week in the National Assembly while sharing developments on Namibia’s ongoing efforts to combat money-laundering and terrorism financing.
Ministers have been working tirelessly since last year to ensure the country meets the necessary requirements of the international watchdog, FATF, to avoid being greylisted.
Namibia was tasked to deal with 13 laws to strengthen its legal systems to fight financial crimes. Greylisting means a country is under increased monitoring due to a lack of effective policies and procedures to deal with anti-money laundering (AML), combatting the financing of terrorism (CFT), and proliferation financing (CPF) framework.
Shiimi commended government on its
commitment to address these deficiencies in an effort to get Namibia removed from the grey list at the earliest opportunity.
The FATF gave Namibia a period of 24 months, with deadlines running from January 2025 to May 2026.
“As a country, we hope to address them
sooner, and it is our belief that we can meet this challenge. As a result, we have put in place adequate measures to report regularly on the progress made in this regard,” said the minister.
Bank of Namibia governor Johannes !Gawaxab last year cautioned relevant Namibian entities to work together, as greylisting could be harmful to the economy. He noted that greylisting is preventable if all offices involved play their part.
“Greylisting is not good for the country because it will impact trade, lead to the increased risk premium of Namibia, borrowing costs are going to increase, and cross-border transaction costs will increase and limit the country’s ability to do business effectively. It is detrimental to our capacity to attract foreign direct investment (FDI),” the governor warned at the time.
Namibia, in a bid to avoid greylisting, had passed four new laws and amended nine existing laws by August 2023.