RDP parliamentarian Mike Kavekotora has warned that the country could suffer a flood of bankruptcies if government does not stop its borrowing habits.
“Hon Shiimi, don’t be fooled by the notion that countries don’t go bankrupt; they do and can also be liquidated – and the Chinese will take over. I am warning you that the debt level has become unsustainable and very risky at 76% of GDP,” Kavekotora told finance minister Iipumbu Shiimi in the National Assembly last week. Kavekotora was contributing to the national budget, tabled by Shiimi recently.
He said the risk is associated with the fact that the money borrowed is not materially spent on stimulating economic growth as highlighted in the ration between the national development budget versus its operational budget.
“Sustainable job creation as a stimulant to economic growth is not visible in your borrowing philosophy. Your borrowing is mostly to finance operations,” Kavekotora told Shiimi.
“Why did you fail to inform the nation about the maturing Euro Bond, the African Development Bank loan and the IMF loan? Tell the nation how you are going to service the Euro Bond loan and share with this August House the terms and conditions of the other two loans,” he asked the finance minister.
According to Kavekotora, the second disaster will come from the Swapo-led government’s failure to effectively address the basic human need of food security, land delivery, housing provision, health, education, water and sanitation.
“Your lack of attention and the small allocation to the agricultural sector will spell another disaster. I thought that by now you should have come to the realisation that food security is a critical success factor for any society that is serious in moving towards industrialisation.”
He said it seems as if the current lessons from Covid-19 just slipped government’s mind.
“You did not realise that had South Africa closed its borders completely, Namibians would have starved to death”.