By: Hellen Andreas
The domestic economy remained on a positive trajectory in the third quarter of 2021, recording a growth of 2.4 per cent compared to a decline of 12.3 per cent recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2020.
This was announced when the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) released the third publication of the Quarterly Agriculture Statistical Bulletin (QASB) for the year 2021 and other Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the Oshana region on Thursday.
The Quarterly Agriculture Statistical Bulletin presents an overview of Namibia’s Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery sectors.
The objective of the bulletin is to illustrate the short-term performance of the sectors by looking at the merchandise trade patterns, auction prices and food inflation rate development every quarter.
During the release, Alex Shimuafeni, Statistician-General & CEO, said in nominal terms that the economy’s size was estimated at N$45.0 billion in the quarter under review relative to the N$ 43.9 billion posted in the same quarter of 2020. This shows that the size of the economy increased by N$ 1.1 billion over a year.
Shumuafeni added that the cereal crop production in the last quarter stood at 47,991 tons, more than the 34,289 tons recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2020.
White maize was the highest produced grain, accounting for 96.9 per cent of the total grain, followed by pearl millet and wheat.
On the Fish landings, NSA said the total landings of quota species stood at 57,935 metric tons in the third quarter of 2021, down from 73,590 metric tons recorded a year earlier. This translates into a reduction of 21.3 per cent in landings over the year.
“The decline recorded in the volume of species landed during the review period was reflected in Rock Lobster, Tuna and Hake,” he said.
For the quarter under review, Namibia’s export earnings from commodities of the ‘Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing’ sector amounted to N$3.7 billion, whereas the import bill expanded to N$1.4 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of N$2.7 billion.
The Fisheries products, including the manufactured fish, accounted for the highest foreign earnings, recording N$2.8 billion, while forestry commodities worth N$643.2 million were the main products imported.
For October 2021, the Building Plans Completed Index registered a significant growth of 391.3 per cent every month compared to 34.9 per cent recorded in September 2021. The increase is mainly attributed to the construction of Commercial buildings.
Livestock Marketed Composite Index declined by 8.0 per cent in October 2021, indicating that farmers are continuing to restock their animals. For October 2021, 54 932 livestock was marketed compared to 55 791 livestock recorded during the preceding month.
A total number of 19 725 cattle were marketed during October 2021, accounting for 35.9 per cent of total livestock marketed, followed by sheep with 29.5 per cent (16 193), Goats with 20.3 per cent (11 158) and Pigs with 6.5 per cent (3 552).
Shimuafeni said the expansion of economic activities in the third quarter of 2021 was observed in almost all the sectors of the economy.
Double-digit growth rates were registered in ‘Mining and quarrying (41.9%) and ‘Hotels and Restaurants’ (19.5%). Furthermore, the following sectors also posted strong growths during the period under review Health (7.3%); ‘Agriculture and forestry’ (5.9%); ‘Transport and storage (5.6%); and ‘Real estate and professional service’ (4.2%).
However, decreased economic activities were observed in the secondary and tertiary industries. The Construction sector recorded the deepest contraction of 43.7 per cent, followed by the financial services sector declining by 10.9 per cent.
The manufacturing sector declined by 2.6 per cent, and the Wholesale and retail trade sector also registered a contraction of 0.7 per cent.
GDP is calculated in three different ways: the Income Approach, Production approach, and Expenditure approach.
Shimuafeni said the NSA expenditure on real GDP increased by 2.4 per cent in the quarter under review, mainly driven by the final private consumption.
In nominal terms, the private final consumption expenditure stood at N$ 34.9 billion during the period under review, up from N$31.3 billion recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2020. While the government’s final consumption expenditure stood at N$11.3 billion, down from N$12.1 billion in the third quarter of 2020, and private consumption increased by 18 per cent in the quarter under review while government consumption grew by 2.3 per cent.
Investment stood at N$6.0 billion in the quarter under review, down from N$7.7 billion in the corresponding quarter of 2020. In real terms, investment declined by 43.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2021.
In the same quarter, exports of goods and services stood at N$13.4 billion while imports of goods and services stood at N$21.5 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of N$8.1 billion. In real terms, exports of goods and services increased by 3.4 per cent, while import of goods and services increased by 6.1 per cent.
