Windhoek
Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) yesterday announced that a trade deficit of N$26.2 billion was recorded last year compared to N$17.2 billion in 2013.
“As we all know, foreign trade statistics play an important role in Namibia’s economy, these foreign trade statistics measure the values and quantities of goods that move into and out of our country,” Iipumbu Sackaria, the NSA deputy director for corporate communication, stated in a media release issued yesterday.
“This widening of the trade deficit was reflected in a 23.2 percent increase in the import bill to N$90.6 billion from N$73.5 billion the previous year. On the other hand, total exports increased only moderately to N$64.4 billion from N$56.3 billion when compared to a year earlier,” further stated the deputy director.
In 2014, Namibia’s key export markets were Botswana (N$10.7bn), South Africa (N$8.4bn), Switzerland (N$7.8bn), Korea (N$5.8bn) and Angola (N$4.7bn). The commodities mostly exported were precious stones (diamonds), ores, fish and copper.
On the other hand, Namibia’s imports were mainly sourced from South Africa (N$51.6bn), Korea (N$5.9bn), China (N$3.6bn), Bahamas (N$3.1bn) and Germany (N$2.6bn).
Namibia’s top imports are vehicles, ships and floating structures, machinery and mechanical appliances, mineral fuels and electrical machinery and equipment.
In terms of economic blocks, Namibia’s imports were mainly from SACU (N$53.8bn), the European Union (N$8.6bn), BRIC (N$5.4bn) and non-SACU-SADC (N$3.5bn). In terms of exports, Namibia exported goods worth (N$19.4bn) to SACU, (N$8.6bn) to non-SACU-SADC, (N$7.9bn) to the EU, (N$7.8bn) to EFTA, (N$3.6bn) to COMESA and (N$2.5bn) the BRIC.