Business

The Bank of Namibia’s (BoN’s) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on Friday cut the repo rate by 100 basis points, from 6.25% to 5.25% to help cushion the anticipated impact of Covid-19 and support domestic economic activity, while maintaining the one-to-one link between the Namibia Dollar and the South African Rand.

The Covid-19 pandemic, which is wreaking havoc across the globe, has the potential to significantly increase Namibia’s unemployment as it is no longer a health crisis but an economic, labour market and social crisis too.

The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) has confirmed the suspension of the census mapping exercise. As per the directive from President Hage Geingob, calling for a state of emergency because of the Covid-19 outbreak, NSA’s statistician general and CEO Alex Shimuafeni on Friday confirmed the Census mapping has been put on hold until 14 April 2020, or at least until the situation stabilises. 

Standard Bank management says it continues to monitor the spread of Covid-19 infections globally and locally. To this effect, the bank says it understands the imperative to serve the Namibian public and provide critical services during this difficult time.  

In response to the confirmed Covid-19 cases in Namibia and the directives issued by the government and head of state, NamPost has implemented preventative measures as part of its overall action plan to protect the health of staff and clients throughout the country. As part of preventative measures, there will be restrictions on the number of clients in the post office dependent on the post office lay-out and size and customers will be requested to keep a distance of at least a metre as directed by the Ministry of Health and Social Services. 

Namibia’s national postal operator, Namibia Post Ltd (NamPost) provides service solutions through its postal, banking, courier, philately, agency and money transfer services. As one of the most stable and best performing public institutions, 
NamPost recently inaugurated a new logistics centre in Windhoek to improve operational efficiencies for its courier services.

In response to Namibia’s first confirmed coronavirus (Covid-19) cases, Bank Windhoek has implemented preventative measures as part of its overall action plan to ensure the health and safety of its staff and clients at all its branches and departments countrywide. 

Certain national developmental agendas can only be achieved through public education and some of the crucial issues pertaining to this, according to the Bank of Namibia, are policies related to fees and charges at banks and financial institutions. Director of Payment and Settlement Systems at the central bank, Barbara Dreyer, said that access to affordable financial products and services is a key driver for economic development. 

The Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) is aware of the outbreak of the coronavirus (Covid-19) and has taken the necessary precautions to protect its staff members by encouraging them to practice best hygienic methods such as washing their hands with soap regularly, applying alcohol-based hand sanitisers and wearing of protective gear such as masks and gloves where necessary.  

MTC is set to create temporary employment opportunities for artisans in all 14 regions when it embarks on its project to paint Namibia blue.