Author: Maihapa Ndjavera (Maihapa Ndjavera )

Finland president Sauli Niinistö and his business delegation concluded their two-day state visit, with the energy sector leading much of the discussions. 

Exploration in 2022 continued with its upward trajectory, breaching N$1.3 billion in real terms.

President Hage Geingob yesterday said he and his Finnish counterpart held fruitful discussions based on the long-standing relationship between the countries, but took issue with a visiting journalist’s question on the fear that Namibia’s recent massive energy projects might lead to the country being recolonised.

Trade minister Lucia Iipumbu said Namibia is ready and open for business and in her pursuit to attract tangible investments, the government is deliberate in ensuring a conducive investment climate, which is supported by progressive regulatory and policy frameworks. 

Namibia has been struggling to establish a national pension fund (NPF) due to too many conflicting demands from various stakeholders on the design of the fund. 

Namibia Revenue Agency commissioner Sam Shivute has warned companies and individuals involved in deliberately avoiding their true tax liabilities to expect a visit from his officials soon.

Road Fund Administration (RFA) CEO Ali Ipinge said the share of the fuel price RFA receives remains insufficient compared to other countries in the SADC region. He added that about 55%, which is N$1.3 billion out of N$2.42 billion of RFA revenue comes from the fuel levy income, which stands around N$1.48/litre.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz said his country wants to help mineral-rich countries build their processing infrastructure to cut dependency on China and source it straight from countries like Namibia, Indonesia and Chile. 

A country that is greylisted is an indication the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international watchdog, has identified strategic deficiencies in
applicable systems to counter financial crimes. 

The Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA) surpassed its revenue-collection target for the 2022/23 financial year by N$4 billion. Last year, the State revenue collector was required to bring in N$53 billion in what was seen as an ambitious target then, but exceeded this and collected a total of N$57 billion.