In her 2026/2027 national budget speech to Parliament on Thursday, Finance Minister Ericah Shafudah announced strong progress on Namibia’s first fast and instant payment system.
The new system, called the Instant Payment Solution (IPS), will allow government to pay people directly into their bank accounts or e-wallets within seconds.
The system is a collaborative effort led by the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Namibia, together with payment service providers. It is expected to launch in the third quarter of this year.
For many years, social grants have been paid out in cash through NamPost. This often-meant long trips, transport costs, and standing in line for hours especially for elderly citizens in rural areas.
Under the new system, government payments will go straight into beneficiaries’ accounts or digital wallets. Once fully rolled out, cash payouts will be phased out.
“I wish to update this August House on the progress in implementing Namibia’s first fast and instant payment solution to support Government-to-Person payments,” she said.
Instant Payments Namibia chief operating officer Marsorry Ickua said the Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Namibia, and Payment Service Providers have been working behind the scenes to deliver Namibia’s first, fast and instant payment solution since its launch in 2024.
The solution is expected to significantly enhance financial inclusion and deepen access to finance through strategic regulatory interventions.
“During the engagement, it was confirmed that the Bank of Namibia and its partners have successfully tested the solution’s integration with core banking systems of participating institutions and that user acceptance testing is currently underway, with pilots for current banked beneficiaries planned for the next few weeks. The participating institutions during this phase of the government-to-person use case are Bank Windhoek, Letsego Bank, Nampost and the Bank of Namibia’s Currency and Banking Operations Department,” he explained. The next phase of the roll-out will involve onboarding pensioners and other beneficiaries who receive their grants in cash at participating institutions of their choice once all these processes are completed.
This means that cash payments will soon be limited, as the government will directly pay beneficiaries into their accounts or digital wallets after they have registered via the Instant Payment Solution through participating institutions.
This shift promises enormous benefits for our nation: reducing costs, increasing efficiency, and ensuring that our pensioners and other social grant beneficiaries can access their funds instantly, from anywhere in the country, without the inconvenience and expense of travel.
Other use cases of the Instant Payment Solution include person-to-person payments, business-to-person payments, and e-wallet interoperability, which will be rolled out in phases to ensure seamless adoption while adequately preparing users for this national transformation in payment services over the next 18 months.
The Governor of the Bank, Ebson Uanguta, recently stated that the payment system signifies a commitment by the Bank of Namibia and the financial sector to answer to the President’s call for a meaningful transformation.
“With this initiative, we aim to improve the lives of Namibians and offer more convenient, affordable financial services beyond costly brick-and-mortar means. We will roll out a national digital literacy campaign accompanied by roadshows and stakeholder engagements to ensure our people understand the new solution effectively,” he said,