Border delays drive up business costs by 30%

Businesses are incurring an additional 30 to 40% in costs due to slow clearing processes at the border.

This is according to the commissioner of the Namibia Revenue Agency (Namra), Sam Shivute.

Speaking during the launch of Namibia’s Coordinated Border Management (CBM) strategy for Namibia yesterday, Shivute said currently it can take 19 to 20 days for businesses to have their goods cleared at Namibian borders.

“The consignment is at the port of entry for about 19 days. That is very costly to the business and it is also very costly to the investor who is waiting for those products, either to export or to sell,” said Shivute.

He said this is one of the reasons products are expensive in the country.

Shivute said the CBM will reduce transaction costs, facilitate faster trade and enhance control measures of all border agencies.

Executive director in the Ministry of Trade and Industrialisation Sikongo Haihambo said turnaround clearance time at borders has to be minimised.

“The time spent is not cost effective, hence we need to improve our systems and processes to ensure an expedited clearance process,” said Haihambo.

He said the strategy will act as a yardstick as to how the country is performing, adding that the country has made strides in its Trade Facilitation Roadmap, which outlines Namibia’s planned steps to improve trade facilitation between 2019 and 2025.

“Our implementation rate of the Trade Facilitation Agreement measures stood at 85.8% from 3.16% two years ago. This is a magnificent improvement,” said Haihambo.

Alcides Monteiro, the head of the Southern African Development Community delegation said the CBM will allow ease of doing business.

“This new strategy is a trade facilitation tool that will allow for ease of doing business and also help to avoid rivalries and competition among border agencies,” said Monteiro.

Currently, Namibia has 13 border agencies.

According to Monteiro, the representation of different government offices at ports can cause inefficiencies.

“Currently most of the border ports, sea ports and dry ports have representation from all agencies of government and sometimes this leads to a repetition of activities creating a cumbersome workload,” said Monteiro.

Additionally, the success of the implementation of the CBM will depend on strong political will and the full involvement of the private sector, said Monteiro.

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