Namibia’s economy grows over N$60 billion in three months

Namibia’s economy grew by N$4.0 billion in the last 12 months bringing the total gross domestic product (GDP) to N$62.4 billion.

This is according to the latest GDP data by the Namibia Statistics Agency.

Statistician general Alex Shimuafeni says economic activity grew by 2.7% during the first three months of 2025.

“The performance is mainly attributable to the tertiary industries that recorded a growth of 5.1%, compared to 4.8% growth recorded in the corresponding period of 2024,” says Shimuafeni.

The performance in the tertiary industries was driven by health, wholesale and retail trade, financial services activities and administrative and support services.

Primary industries, which include mining, saw a decline of 3.1% in economic activity when compared to a 5.9% increase recorded in the first quarter of 2024. The poor performance is a result of a decline in agriculture and forestry, and fishing and fish processing sectors, which registered declines of 20.1% and 8.7%, respectively.

“The decline in performance is reflected in a significant reduction in total animals marketed and a decrease in the volume of fish landed,” says Shimuafeni. However, the Uranium sub sector saw a growth of 36.5% due to the increase in volume of Uranium production.

The secondary industries also recorded a decline of 0.7%

“This performance emanates from the manufacturing sector that registered a 1.7% decline in real value added, compared to a decrease of 0.9% witnessed in the same quarter of 2024,” reads the report. In terms of consumption expenditure, by the end of March, the country had a consumption bill of N$63.5 billion compared to N$60.0 billion reported in the first quarter of 2024.

This refers to the total spending by households and the government on goods and services for final consumption. Private final consumption expenditure now stands at N$47.6 billion, recording an increase of N$1.2 billion from the same quarter of 2024.

This private final consumption is the spending by households (individuals and families) on goods and services for their own direct satisfaction. This includes food, housing, clothing, entertainment, and transportation.

Meanwhile, government expenditure amounted to N$15.8 billion in the first quarter of 2025, when compared to N$13.6 billion recorded in the same quarter of 2024.

“The performance is attributed to a rise in public servants, as well as the government expenditure on goods and services,” says Shimuafeni.

The country exported a total of goods and services worth N$26.9 billion, which is an increase of N$4.2 billion compared to N$22.7 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2024.

“This strong performance was primarily driven by increased export of intermediate goods,” reads the report.

Meanwhile, the country imported goods and services worth N$43.2 billion up from N$40.0 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2024.

“The performance is mainly attributed to the import of final and capital goods,” says Shimuafeni.

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