Standard Bank National Budget Review
The Honorable Minister of Finance has presented us with a budget focused on economic revival and caring for the vulnerable and marginalized, with sentiments pointing towards an overall positive outlook for the country moving forward.
Despite the various headwinds currently afflicting the global economy, there is much optimism for the domestic economy to experience a much broader and sustained recovery. Anchored by strong growth in mining activities and continued recovery in the tertiary sectors growth of 3.2% and 2.2% now forecasted for 2023 and 2024, respectively.
We envision economic growth over the midterm to be higher than the pre-pandemic growth trend, boding well for the government’s fiscal sustainability and developmental goals.
Given the pressing need for Namibia to accelerate its economic diversification agenda, it comes as welcome relief to see further emphasis placed on promoting growth friendly economic policies, increasing collaboration with the private sector, and providing revisions to tax laws that will go a long way to improving the ease of doing business within the country.
We look at Namibia now and we see exciting times and reforms ahead that are only likely to only come to fruition past the mid-term expenditure framework. Large structural investments in both the green and blue economy as well as the offshore oil finds place Namibia in a position to become an energy powerhouse on the African continent. This will positively affect the state of the economy as well as significantly increase revenue collection for the sovereign which would go a long way to further balancing the fiscus.
With that said the envisioned economic recovery coupled with improved tax collection efficiency and improved SACU inflows will strengthen the revenue position, providing increased room for necessary expenditure increases that will lead to real returns for the domestic economy.
Although debt and deficit metrics are expected to stabilize over the mid-term expenditure framework, the large debt burden still remains of great concern. Prudent fiscal management is still needed to ensure the fiscal sustainability mandate is achieved.
Despite the various headwinds currently afflicting the global economy, there is much optimism for the domestic economy to experience a much broader and sustained recovery. Anchored by strong growth in mining activities and continued recovery in the tertiary sectors growth of 3.2% and 2.2% now forecasted for 2023 and 2024, respectively.
We envision economic growth over the midterm to be higher than the pre-pandemic growth trend, boding well for the government’s fiscal sustainability and developmental goals.
Given the pressing need for Namibia to accelerate its economic diversification agenda, it comes as welcome relief to see further emphasis placed on promoting growth friendly economic policies, increasing collaboration with the private sector, and providing revisions to tax laws that will go a long way to improving the ease of doing business within the country.
We look at Namibia now and we see exciting times and reforms ahead that are only likely to only come to fruition past the mid-term expenditure framework. Large structural investments in both the green and blue economy as well as the offshore oil finds place Namibia in a position to become an energy powerhouse on the African continent. This will positively affect the state of the economy as well as significantly increase revenue collection for the sovereign which would go a long way to further balancing the fiscus.
With that said the envisioned economic recovery coupled with improved tax collection efficiency and improved SACU inflows will strengthen the revenue position, providing increased room for necessary expenditure increases that will lead to real returns for the domestic economy.
Although debt and deficit metrics are expected to stabilize over the mid-term expenditure framework, the large debt burden still remains of great concern. Prudent fiscal management is still needed to ensure the fiscal sustainability mandate is achieved.
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