Namibia recorded its 17th consecutive quarter of real gross domestic product (GDP) growth, at 1.6% in the second quarter of 2025, although this was the slowest growth recorded over this run.
The wholesale and retail trade sector was the main driver of growth, contributing 0.5 percentage points, as the real revenue of wholesalers and retailers increased.
Despite this, a sharp contraction in household consumption expenditure (-7.2%) was recorded, while a sustained decline in card payments and e-money transactions over the past six months or so suggests a bleak outlook for the coming quarters.
The financial services sector grew by 5%, supported by strong performance in the insurance subsector (+8.5%), owing to higher gross premiums from life insurance and an increase in medical aid membership.
The banking sector, however, recorded marginal growth of 0.8%.
Education and public administration grew by 5.6% and 3.7%, respectively, reflecting an increase in personnel numbers and employee compensation.
The fishing, agriculture and manufacturing sectors weighed on overall GDP growth, with manufacturing alone subtracting one percentage point.
Diamond cutting and polishing contracted sharply by 59.1%, compared with a 33.4% contraction in quarter two of 2024.
Double-digit declines were also recorded in the manufacturing subsectors of meat processing (-50.9%), basic non-ferrous metals (-25.2%), beverages (-12.0%), and paper products, publishing and printing (-10.9%).
– Tannan Groenewald is the head of data and analytics at Cirrus Capital.
