Windhoek
Namibia started off the year with a slightly poor economic performance, with hotels, restaurants and shopping centres registering very poor sales for the first quarter of this year, when compared to the same period of 2014.
The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) says very few people visited hotels and restaurants, and the number of hotel bed nights sold increased only by 1.1 per cent compared to 11.3 per cent of the previous year, while the number of room nights sold only increased by 0.5 per cent compared to 13.3 per cent in 2014.
Wholesale and retail supermarkets registered declining revenues, a decline of 2.8 per cent compared to the growth of 35.6 per cent in last year’s first quarter.
The fish catches from mid-water trawling were also not that good, recording at a slow growth of 2.7 per cent compared to the 59.9 per cent increase of last year, and this pulled down the growth in the fishing sector which recorded a slow growth of 2.5 per cent.
However, three economic sectors – agriculture, utility and construction – performed well in the first four months, thanks to the gigantic increase in export of cattle on the hoof, demand for water for irrigation and livestock feeding, and due to an increase in the value of buildings completed.
According to the just released statistics from the NSA the gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the first four months of this year is only at 3.1 per cent, a gigantic dip when compared to the 5.6 per cent growth in the first four months of 2014.
“The slow performance was mainly due to wholesale and retail trade that recorded a decline in the real value added of 2.4 per cent,” said NSA. Hotels and restaurants recorded a slow growth of 7.1 per cent.
Nevertheless, NSA says the economy did show improvements in real added value for the agriculture, utility and construction sectors. Agriculture recorded growth of 7.4 per cent, the utility sector is at 7.5 per cent and construction is at 26 per cent.
The growth in the agriculture and forestry sector is against the contraction of 16.3 per cent reported in 2014.
NSA says the improved performance in the sector is led by the subsector of livestock farming, which posted a strong growth of 26.7 per cent, a huge improvement when compared to a decline of 28.1 per cent in the previous year. This is all thanks to the increase in the number of cattle exported on the hoof, a 185.5 per cent increase, compared to a decline of 58.6 per cent in the previous year.
Growth in the construction sector is also high at 26 per cent when measured against the 19.4 per cent growth of last year. The increase is due to the increase in the value of buildings completed, which grew 17 per cent compared to a decline of 18.9 per cent registered in the same period last year.
Increase in water consumption, mainly for agricultural irrigation and livestock consumption, helped push up the quarterly growth in the utility sector. Demand for electricity also boosted the sector.
Growth in the construction sector is also high at 26 per cent when measured against the 19.4 per cent of last year.
The increase is due to the increase in the value of buildings completed, which grew 17 per cent compared to a decline of 18.9 per cent registered in the same period last year.