Over 200 local pharmacies have been found to have engaged in price-fixing during the last 15 years. This is according to the Namibian Competition Commission’s director of enforcement, exemption and cartels division Paulus Hangula, who last week revealed this figure after numerous investigations into prohibited conduct by local businesses.
Providing NaCC statistics for the past 15 years, he said an increase in cases has been observed in insurance, pharmaceutical, banking sector, automotive industry and telecommunications.
Hangula was speaking at the Institutional Partnership Conference in Windhoek last week that was hosted under the theme ‘Competition Regulation in Namibia, the Past, Present and the Future’.
Predicting the future of competition regulation in Namibia, he said the NaCC is hard at work reviewing the Competition Act.
“This is to meet the needs of our emerging markets and growing economy and is a proposal for dedicated courts to handle competition matters. Secondly, we must consider a shift in legislation, as informed by local and global developments in emerging energy markets, digital market and artificial intelligence and how it affects competition,” Hangula stated.
Also addressing the issue, the chairperson of the NaCC’s board of commissioners, Penda Ithindi noted the commission has been impactful in promoting competition in the domestic economy, to safeguard profit optimisation and consumer welfare.
This is as the domestic economy is going through new developments, which calls for a renewed focus on adapting to evolving market conditions, technological advancements and economic complexity.
Local developments include a shift towards green industrialisation, prospective oil and gas and green hydrogen and derivative industries as well as elevated critical raw mineral beneficiation and value chains industries. These are significant additions to the domestic economy.
“Looking ahead, it is imperative that we continue to refine our regulatory practices to foster competitive behaviour, which is both profit optimising and welfare enhancing,” said Ithindi.
While opening last week’s conference, Trade and Industrialisation Minister Lucia Iipumbu emphasised that competition regulation is one avenue for addressing the social challenges Namibia faces. These are inequality, poverty and unemployment.
Competition regulation encourages business efficiency, leading to the creation of a wider choice of products for consumers, reduction in prices, and improved quality of goods and services offered.
“The government remains committed to ensuring that the NaCC’s human and organisational resources are amplified in a way that allows the regulator to achieve its mandate under the Competition Act. It is in light of this that government has committed to making budgetary allocations to the NaCC, which currently stands at over N$100 million from 2009 to date,” the minister assured.-mndjavera@nepc.com.na
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