The Bank of Namibia (BoN) engaged senior editors from various media houses on Tuesday to provide a status update on the bank’s various operations and activities.
According to the central bank’s Director of Strategic Communications and International Relations, Kazembire Zemburuka, this engagement forms part of its longstanding relationship with the media and its commitment to promoting transparency and accountability.
BoN Deputy governors, Ebson Uanguta and Leonie Dunn, made presentations on the bank’s role. Uanguta provided insights into domestic economic highlights and noted that growth in the domestic economy slowed to 3.7% during the second quarter of 2023, compared to 8.5% recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022.
Headline inflation rose to an average of 6.0% during the first eight months of 2023, compared to the average of 5.6% during the corresponding period of 2022.
This increase was mainly on account of higher inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing, alcohol beverages and tobacco, Uanguta added.
Globally, monetary policy tightening and geopolitical tensions have created economic uncertainty. The deputy governor, however, highlighted that domestic, global and regional economic developments, as well as the peg arrangement between the Namibia Dollar and the South African Rand, are essential considerations in the formulation of monetary policy.
Responding to questions on the viability of the peg, Uanguta said the bank continues to assess the arrangement and has found that it continues to serve Namibia well from a price stability perspective, while reducing transactional costs, ultimately benefiting the economy.
The meeting further provided key updates on the SME Economic Recovery Loan Scheme that was relaunched in February 2023. To date, over N$280 million has been disbursed to 267 businesses operating in the construction, retail, manufacturing and oil and gas industries. – Nampa