By: Hertha Ekandjo
The Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB) said, in its first year of operation, it has attracted N$161 billion worth of potential private investors, with the potential to create 122,000 jobs.
It said N$93.5 billion worth of these are almost at the stage of finalising investing decisions, while those operating are valued at N$2.8 billion.
The agency informed it has developed a pipeline worth N$94.7 billion for private projects.
“All our efforts are contributing to improving the general economic development, therefore, many other investments are taking place without the support of NIPDB and are not included in our pipeline,”the NIPDB noted in its latest annual report for 2021/2022.
According the investment promotion agency, N$4.83 billion worth impact of investment has already been facilitated towards capital deployment or implementation, with a potential total gross domestic product (GDP) impact of potential investments, based on multiplier effect at N$185.51 billion and N$17.50 billion worth of treasury impact of investments, based on multiplier effect.
The agency also said that so far1,300 jobs have been created through potential walk-in investors (93%), which to them is an indication that Namibia’s marketing efforts are working.
NIPDB’s Chief Executive Officer, Nangula Uaandja said 73% of investors are particularly interested in energy.
“Although Namibia is well-placed to capitalise on this sector, which offers an opportunity for diversification, we must remain cautious against driving investment in only one sector,” Uaandja advised.
NIPDB’s Potential Public Investment pipeline consists of 10 sectors: renewable energy (N$37.85 billion); health and pharmaceutical (N$10.04 bn); tourism, hospitality and entertainment (N$0.10 bn); digital, global business services (N$0.95 bn); and machinery, electronics and other manufacturing (N$0.75 bn).
The other sectors are: agriculture and food processing (1.55 bn); transportation and logistics (N$1.80 bn); metals, mining and adjacent industries (N$9.85 bn); real estate and housing (N$10.48 bn) and other energy (N$31.36 bn).
Uaandja mentioned that approximately N$4.83 billion has already been delivered up to the capital deployed stage by the end of the financial year, with a total of 1,300 jobs, of which 400 are direct.
Furthermore, the CEO said the private sector has been vocal that Namibia’s policy environment is anti-investment, particularly when compared to the regional policy climate.
She noted that more than half of the pipeline at year-end required active facilitation to eliminate constraints and about N$44.6 billion (47%) of the potential private investments were specifically dependent on policy and regulations.
In its first year NIPDB undertook to identify policies which investors considered to be the most urgent and important to coordinate. The policies engaged by NIPDB are the Namibia Investment Promotion and Facilitation Bill, Migration Bill, Desert Visa Programme and the Namibia Equitable Economic Empowerment Bill.
In addition to its active engagement on these policies, the agency also provided input on other various policies, including the Land Bill, the Diamond Bill and the Bank of Namibia`s Draft Capital Flows Management Regulations.
“It is worth noting that in its effort to impact policy reform, NIPDB`s role is mainly as an influencer. In this regard, the agency has worked with the various institutions that own the laws it wishes to influence to not only provide its insights but also to address the challenges and administrative bottlenecks that exist in the legal reform process,” the agency stated.
The agency was established on 1 April 2021.
NIPDB Attracts N$161 Billion Worth Of Investors
