NEDBANK Namibia recently held its annual economic review meeting in Windhoek.The Chief Economist at Nedbank South Africa, Dennis Dykes, was one of the two speakers at the event, who gave a presentation on the global and regional economic perspective, while local economist Emile van Zyl of Simonis Storm Securities spoke on the Namibian economic situation.
In his presentation, Van Zyl highlighted the most recent market and economic developments in Namibia, where the mining sector recorded strong economic growth of between five to six per cent this year. Van Zyl said the growth experienced to date had to be attributed to Namdeb sales to DTC sales, income before tax and deposits from Scorpion Zink.However, the non-mining economy indicated a deteriorating distribution of income, with a low level of interest rates.He said the difficulties currently challenging the fishing industry were likely to continue.Van Zyl also mentioned that fiscal discipline remained a priority on the Government agenda, with the determination of stopping overruns on expenditure budget and improvement of tax receivables.On the global and regional front, Dykes said the global economic position had been strong since the beginning of 2005 and the forecast for next year was optimistic.He added that key international issues persisted, which included the surplus and asset price boom, and oil prices.Dykes noted that exports from China to the rest of the world were on an upswing, contributing to a large US deficit.Pangwa Gabriel, Manager: Marketing and Communications at Nedbank Namibia, said: “The objective of this annual event is to reflect on the past, present and the economic outlook, enabling our various stakeholders to understand the economic environment and how it likely to have an impact on their businesses.”Van Zyl said the growth experienced to date had to be attributed to Namdeb sales to DTC sales, income before tax and deposits from Scorpion Zink.However, the non-mining economy indicated a deteriorating distribution of income, with a low level of interest rates.He said the difficulties currently challenging the fishing industry were likely to continue.Van Zyl also mentioned that fiscal discipline remained a priority on the Government agenda, with the determination of stopping overruns on expenditure budget and improvement of tax receivables.On the global and regional front, Dykes said the global economic position had been strong since the beginning of 2005 and the forecast for next year was optimistic.He added that key international issues persisted, which included the surplus and asset price boom, and oil prices.Dykes noted that exports from China to the rest of the world were on an upswing, contributing to a large US deficit.Pangwa Gabriel, Manager: Marketing and Communications at Nedbank Namibia, said: “The objective of this annual event is to reflect on the past, present and the economic outlook, enabling our various stakeholders to understand the economic environment and how it likely to have an impact on their businesses.”
