Business

Commercial banks have commenced with a reduction of their interest rates after the Bank of Namibia’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on Wednesday cut the repo rate even further by 100 basis points to 4.25% in a bid to provide more relief for consumers. At its new level, the repo rate is expected to provide some short-term relief to borrowers.

The Roads Authority (RA) has informed clients that in line with the extension of the lockdown period announced by President Hage Geingob on 14 April 2020, all its offices, including NaTIS, Transport Regulations and Weighbridges, will remain closed until Monday, 4 May 2020. 

Winston Churchill once said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” A quick look at the situation within the Namibian tourism sector reveals that it is going through an unprecedented period that requires it to re-engineer itself.

The oldest gold mine in the country, QKR Namibia Navachab Gold Mine, situated just outside Karibib, has responded to private sector appeal by President Hage Geingob by reaffirming its support towards the nation-wide efforts to address some of the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic in supporting the Karibib community.

Momentum Metropolitan Namibia, through their subsidiary Momentum Short Term Insurance Namibia, will acquire all the issued shares of Alexander Forbes Insurance Namibia. After the two entities signed the binding agreement, the transaction will be finalised pending regulatory approvals from the Namibian Competition Commission and the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority. 

FirstRand Namibia recently announced the objectives of its HOPE intervention and relief effort, which aims to assist government and its partners in mitigating the impact of Covid-19 rapidly and at scale. 

Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR) has confirmed that the 40 guests that were isolated at its Hardap Resort from 25 March 2020 up until 9 April 2020 were all safely released without showing any symptoms of Covid-19.

At a recent board meeting, B2Gold Namibia approved the allocation of N$6 million towards Covid-19 amelioration efforts. According to a company spokesperson, this donation will be split between targeted government interventions and a non-governmental organization called the Development Workshop of Namibia (DW), which operates through the Namibian Chamber of Environment. 

The only thing that is certain about forecasting at the moment is that it is probably inaccurate. This sentiment resounds with many Namibian business people as we all try to make sense of and understand the uncertain future of doing business during the Covid-19 pandemic and the world thereafter.

Cast your mind back to a few weeks ago and imagine someone telling you the following: within the next few days, your child’s school or day-care will be closed. You won’t be able to leave your house unless it’s deemed “critical”. Essential and non-essential services will be redefined. You will work from home for an extended period.