By: Josef Kefas Sheehama
The new administration must lead the mandatory fiscal adjustment process by significantly and publicly reducing the cost of governance while Namibians wait for the inauguration of a new President.
This could involve eliminating redundant roles, consolidating ministries, and drastically reducing their size.
Financial adjustments can happen without affecting essential service delivery by appointing Namibians with an in-depth knowledge of our country’s economic landscape instead of picking well-known people who don’t adequately reflect the economy.
Those in positions to merely collect salaries will undermine our financial independence. Namibia must continue with its aggressive efforts at budgetary consolidation, making sure that the changes are durable and equitable.
It takes knowledge of and application of the psychological patterns that drive human behaviour to identify the real economic advancements that impact our well-being and even our ability to survive.
Society must psychologically decide to work together to modernise. One segment of the population cannot be moving in one way while another segment is moving in a different direction.
As we enter exciting new industries, everyone in society must be ready to reevaluate their cultural ideas and even their beliefs. People must let go of the past. We must all evolve as ONE NAMIBIA and be willing to adapt our ways.
Additionally, protecting investments that support growth and the pro-poor while boosting domestic revenue mobilisation is essential. Namibia must also address the growing fiscal obligations brought on by the high level of income inequality.
The only way to end inequality is for Namibia to provide strong job opportunities and support small and medium-sized enterprises in obtaining capital. The likelihood of changes being implemented and maintained can be increased by overcoming resistance through effective communication with stakeholders that highlights the expected benefits of the reforms.
The country’s Sovereign Wealth Fund needs to be strengthened and the economy diversified. These measures will also help ensure that the fiscal policies are effectively and efficiently implemented to achieve the country’s macroeconomic objectives.
As part of the strategic plan to transform the agricultural sector, the politician should not administer the land consolidation and crop intensification programmes. This programme should be administered by the private sector.
After implementing these programmes, government should pursue numerous other interventions and agricultural reforms to improve land use patterns. This includes land reforms that permit the registration and regulation of land. It is crucial that before policies are implemented, the government should understand the mechanisms, workability, and the effect of such policies on the economy.
Moreover, we cannot discuss modernity and industrialisation without expanding our understanding of poverty as a complex, multifaceted problem and pointing out previously overlooked regions of misery.
Namibia needs to take immediate action to combat inequality, upskill its workers, and expand the use of renewable energy. Data systems need to be improved for effective resource allocation and progress monitoring.
This is an opportunity to give young people quick and affordable reskilling and upskilling remedies, as well as to build the long-term data infrastructure needed to expand local credentials.
An educated and skilled workforce, increased competition, innovation, diversification into new industries, forging strong ties with other emerging economies, and boosting intra-regional trade are all part of Namibia’s economic strategy.
We hope that such widespread industrialisation will boost employment and include more historically underserved individuals and underserved areas in the mainstream economy.
The plans outline cross-cutting actions that are crucial for industrial development, such as industrial financing schemes and skills development programs, and pinpoint sectors that are to be promoted through targeted support for investment, infrastructure, and industrial upgrading.
Namibia, like other emerging markets, has a critical need to attract foreign investment while at the same time driving economic transformation. Infrastructure investment, delivery, and maintenance will lead to Namibia’s economic stimulation.
Namibia must separate itself from an economic model reliant on aid, which has led us to view aid as a source of funding for advancement, change, and development.
The country’s journey from policy to prosperity also depends on the effective implementation of fiscal policies that support growth, create jobs, and improve living standards. The way to grow Namibia’s economy is to use fiscal policies to accomplish and maintain economic development.
To achieve these objectives, economic growth, the creation of employment, and an improved standard of living must be achieved. Prudent fiscal management, efficient taxation, and reasonable government spending constitute everything necessary.
Namibia’s economic development has been significantly impacted by the government’s spending policies. Given this, achieving Vision 2030 has attractive economic benefits. It is possible to achieve this by making tough policy decisions, but it should not come at the cost of growth, private sector mobilisation, and a competitive economy.
Therefore, the incoming administration should prioritise enhancing debt management practices to lessen dependency on foreign debt. This entails creating plans for renegotiating current high-interest debt with less expensive alternatives and incorporating debt reduction into fiscal strategy.
Josef Kefas Sheehama is an economic analyst and researcher. The views expressed herein are his own.
