Engagement on relevant investment laws and regulations is part of the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB) mandate, considering the impact of the policy environment on investment and the need to provide policy certainty to current and potential investors.
As such, NIPDB CEO Nangula Uaandja said, in its 2022 annual report launched last week, gaps in the domestic investment policy make it more difficult for the board to fulfil its mandate.
“As such, we are working with various ministries to get the right policies in place. If these are implemented within the next 12 months, then many of the challenges within the investment space can be successfully addressed,” she said.
According to the report, during the first year, NIPDB undertook to identify the policies considered by investors to be most urgent and important to coordinate.
NIPDB engaged in policies during the year, such as the Namibia Investment Promotion and Facilitation Bill, Migration Bill, as well as Namibia Equitable Economic Empowerment Bill.
Uaandja said for the next period, there must be ground-breaking ceremonies that demonstrate tangible movement towards the country’s development.
“We have a pipeline of projects that could potentially employ thousands of people and change millions of lives. I do not doubt that we can continue to fill the pipeline while helping to bring existing projects to fruition and developing the momentum that will take Namibia into a bright future,” she noted.
In the first year, she said the board has had many conversations and generated many leads, as well as refined and developed a pipeline worth N$94.7 billion of private projects with the potential to create a significant impact for Namibia.
The pipeline represents only the value of private projects facilitated by NIPDB.
The CEO added all their efforts are contributing to improving the general economic environment; therefore, many other investments are taking place without the support of NIPDB and are not included in its pipeline.
As per the last financial year, the picture of potential private investment in the pipeline constituted an amount of N$94.72 billion on active investments being facilitated and N$185.51 billion total gross domestic product (GDP) impact of potential investments (based on the multiplier effect).
Additionally, about 122 000 total new jobs are expected from potential investments, including the multiplier effect, with a N$17.50 billion treasury impact of potential investments.
About N$4.83 billion impact of investment is already facilitated towards capital deployment or implementation according to the report.
Last year, Uaandja said promoting Namibia at this point in time is a very easy task due to new developments the country has confirmed, such as oil discoveries and the green hydrogen ambitions.
As at March 2023, Namibian investments in the pipeline increased to N$161 billion.