Nam wasting positive economic opportunities: NSX

NAMIBIA is not using the positive economic conditions locally and in neighbouring South Africa to its advantage, says the Chairman of the Namibia Stock Exchange (NSX) Peter Koep.

Koep says in his Chairman’s Report in the latest NSX Annual Report that the world is waiting for Namibia to open its doors to investment, yet the country seems to be oblivious of this fact. “The hesitant Government response seems motivated by a reluctance to open these doors to investors for fear of losing political control of the economy.Even though almost 16 years have passed since Independence, there is still no co-operation between the business sector and Government,” he said.Koep said job creation and skills training should be a joint effort between the Government and the private sector.He added that Namibia needed outside help to develop the economy and that suitable foreigners qualified for certain positions should be allowed to do their part for Namibia, as was the situation in South Africa, where foreigners were invited to apply for rights to immigrate there.”Namibia must act now rather than later and respond aggressively to the positive image which it has in the world.The Namibia Stock Exchange and the investor community are waiting to take up this opportunity together with Government.”In December last year, Namibia was assigned an internationally recognised Fitch investment rating, which Koep said was good news that should be used towards the country’s economic upliftment.Fitch assigned Namibia ratings of BBB minus for long-term foreign currency, BBB for long-term local currency, and F3 for short-term foreign currency.In the financial year ended December 31 2005, the NSX recorded a turnover of N$3,4 billion, which was 18 per cent higher than in 2004, and the overall index went up by 36,6 per cent.However, deals on the local bourse decreased by eight per cent while the average value of transactions went up 28,7 per cent to N$1,4 million.Although said to be slightly positive, the 2005 financial results are less impressive than those of 2004 due to numerous de-listings – mainly of collapsing fishing companies – and a lack of new listings during the first half of 2005.Not much difference seems to be expected for this year.”Unless new listings materialise, the net income level will show a similar trend in 2006.The Board has decided that the NSX should play a more active role in sourcing new listings and promoting the development capital board, which has less stringent initial listing requirements, for the smaller companies,” said Koep.”The hesitant Government response seems motivated by a reluctance to open these doors to investors for fear of losing political control of the economy.Even though almost 16 years have passed since Independence, there is still no co-operation between the business sector and Government,” he said.Koep said job creation and skills training should be a joint effort between the Government and the private sector.He added that Namibia needed outside help to develop the economy and that suitable foreigners qualified for certain positions should be allowed to do their part for Namibia, as was the situation in South Africa, where foreigners were invited to apply for rights to immigrate there.”Namibia must act now rather than later and respond aggressively to the positive image which it has in the world.The Namibia Stock Exchange and the investor community are waiting to take up this opportunity together with Government.”In December last year, Namibia was assigned an internationally recognised Fitch investment rating, which Koep said was good news that should be used towards the country’s economic upliftment.Fitch assigned Namibia ratings of BBB minus for long-term foreign currency, BBB for long-term local currency, and F3 for short-term foreign currency.In the financial year ended December 31 2005, the NSX recorded a turnover of N$3,4 billion, which was 18 per cent higher than in 2004, and the overall index went up by 36,6 per cent.However, deals on the local bourse decreased by eight per cent while the average value of transactions went up 28,7 per cent to N$1,4 million.Although said to be slightly positive, the 2005 financial results are less impressive than those of 2004 due to numerous de-listings – mainly of collapsing fishing companies – and a lack of new listings during the first half of 2005.Not much difference seems to be expected for this year.”Unless new listings materialise, the net income level will show a similar trend in 2006.The Board has decided that the NSX should play a more active role in sourcing new listings and promoting the development capital board, which has less stringent initial listing requirements, for the smaller companies,” said Koep.