EDITORIAL: Ambiguities in Namibia’s investment drive

Namibia’s noble drive to attract investment is disjointed and will not net the desired fish if our incentives do not speak to each other.For long, the hymn sung to potential investors was littered with lyrics of peace and political stability. While this is an undeniably critical ingredient, it is not unique as almost everyone in Southern Africa can preach the same gospel.Being a small market alone is already a disadvantage of epic proportions, so what separates us from the pack?The cost of doing business in Namibia is made high by deterrents such as high corporate taxes. Reducing corporate taxes has become one of the policies many governments have lately deployed in their arsenal to attract investment.One of the effective incentives our government adopted many years ago was the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) regime, which made Namibia some sort of tax haven for export-oriented manufacturing enterprises in the country, in exchange for technology transfer, capital inflow, skills development and job creation.Also, we have sat for too long on the National Equitable Economic Empowerment Framework (NEEEF) and bred uncertainty. Foreign investors in particular are desperate to see the nuts and bolts of this scheme and how it will affect them.Hosting conferences in Dubai while these basics remain unresolved sounds like a waste of time and our scarce resources. Coordinate everything consequentially and weed out contradictions.

EDITORIAL: Ambiguities in Namibia’s investment drive

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-04-30

Please login to leave a comment

EDITORIAL: Ambiguities in Namibia’s investment drive

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-04-30

Please login to leave a comment

Login