Namibia’s external debt stood at a whopping N$6.3 billion in 2021/22

By Justicia Shipena
Namibia’s total borrowing from external sources amounted to N$6.3 billion or 25 percent of the total funding requirement.
This is according to the government’s accountability report for the financial year 2021/22.
The report states that, at the same time, the government redeemed N$7.4 billion outstanding on the Eurobond on 2 November 2021.
“As a result, external debt accounted for N$31.1 billion or 25 percent of total debt, a decline from N$33.6 billion recorded at the end of the preceding fiscal year,” the report stated.
The decline, it said, was also influenced by the appreciation of the Namibia dollar against major currencies.
On total debt, the report shows that the overall central government debt stock for the 2021/22 fiscal year increased from N$110.5 billion in 2020/21 fiscal year to N$126.1 billion of GDP, which is 66.9 percent of GDP.
In addition, the debt servicing costs increased to N$7.7 billion during the 2021/22 financial year from N$7.4 billion in the preceding year.
“As a percentage of revenue, total debt service increased to 13.9 percent of total revenue from 12.8 percent recorded during 2020/21 fiscal year, breaching the stipulated benchmark of 10.0 percent of revenue,” said the report.
The accountability report says in nominal terms, guarantees rose marginally from N$10.1 billion in the financial year 2020/21 to N$10.3 billion in 2021/22.
The report adds that this increase was due to new issuance of domestic guarantees to the Road Fund Administration (RFA) and Namibia Airports Company (NAC).
However, it shows that, despite the increase, the guarantees level remained within the stipulated benchmark of 10 percent of GDP, as set out in the 2020-2025 Sovereign Debt Management Strategy.
Furthermore, the actual tax and non-tax revenue outturn for the 2021/22 financial year amounted to N$55.4 billion, representing a 6.5 percent over-collection from the estimated budget of N$52.0 billion.
“In comparison to the preceding year, revenue collection decreased by 3.8 percent from N$57.6 billion in the 2020/2021 financial year.”
Meanwhile, entrepreneurial and property income increased from N$617.7 million in the 2020/21 financial year to N$876.2 million.
This was a 41.8 percent increase.