Bank of Namibia (BON) has released its annual report for 2011 announcing that it will contribute about N$60 million to state revenue during the current financial year. The figure is significantly higher than the N$53.6 million it gave government last year, according to BON governor Ipumbu Shiimi.

He explained that the central bank expects to see the domestic economy pick up this year due to increased uranium production, infrastructural development through Targeted Intervention Program for Employment and Economic Growth (TIPEEG), increased production at Ohorongo cement factory and the re-opened copper mines.
Key challenges include the high level of unemployment, poverty and income inequality, while from abroad the slowdown in the world economy “also continues to threaten the outlook of the domestic economy,” he said. In particular Namibia’s export-driven sectors are vulnerable to this slow-down, including activities in agriculture, fishing, mining and tourism, he warned.
Last year the local economy grew by only about 4% according the bank’s estimates, down from 6.6% in 2010. To stimulate growth the central bank has been borrowing more from both domestic and international markets thus bringing the total government debt stock up to 26.8% of the national gross domestic product. At the end of 2010 total debt stock stood at 15.9% of GDP.
On the plus side the overall balance of payments recorded a surplus in 2011, recovering from a deficit in 2010 and international reserves held by the bank went up 42.5% to N$14.6 billion at the end of 2011, representing almost four months of import cover.