Photo: Contributed
By: Dwight Links
Within the Namibian four-part budget system, the problematic aspect is the implementation phase.
The Minister of Finance, Ericah Shafudah, revealed this during a meeting with civil society this past week, as part of an annual engagement that precedes the October mid-year budget review.
This engagement also included a presentation by research associate for Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), Martha Nangolo, on the 2025 Open Budget Survey ranking of Namibia.
Budget preparation leads to the approval phase, which involves the other lawmakers in the National Assembly and National Council, and execution start when the ministers defend their proposals for expenditure during the appropriation period in the National Assembly, seeking approval by the other lawmakers.
The minister noted that the implementation phase requires greater focus.
“This phase requires greater attention so that it translates to greater impact and that’s why our theme for this year is ‘People, Productivity and Prudence’. Yes, when you look at how we compiled the budget for this financial year, we have considered the people as much as we could,” Shafudah explained.
Highlighting subsidisation of education and the need to follow the outcome of this intervention.
“The students that are supported ask how they are performing? Have they chosen fields that provide balance in the economy?” Shafudah stated in her address.
Minister Shafudah was coy on the specifics of what is to be expected in the mid-year review for this week.
“We met with offices, ministries and agencies, along with the National Planning Commission, on how the budget Implementation has failed from April to September. You will hear this week of the outcome in parliament,” she said.
The minister cited that Namibia is not an island.
“We have to assess not only how the budget is evolving but also how the global development landscape is commencing. I did not anticipate that right after I tabled the budget, that on 28 February 2026 the war against Iran would happen,” the minister added.
Shafudah explained that this sudden global event, seemingly innocuous at first, would have global impacts and severely influence the budget and the projections, the minister stated.
Revenue is to be revised in the announcement this coming week. Shafudah added that this will include growth alongside the revenue projections.
The illegal conflict forged by the USA and Israel on Iran that began on 28 February is currently paused in its conflict stage.
Global reports indicate that severe damage to not only infrastructure in Iran has been damaged along with understated death or casualty figures, but that the allied Arab nations in the region also have suffered due to the scale of retaliation that was observed between the March to July phase of the conflict.
The minister added that there is an oversight function provided for the scrutiny of how the budget is implemented.
Oversight is provided by committees of the parliament, the Auditor General, and civil society spread across the country.
However, oversight from the Auditor General’s office sometimes comes too late to correct any deviations or problematic aspects.
This is because financial years are audited after they have been completed and after the necessary documents have been submitted for auditing.
The oversight committees also react after these reports from the Auditor General have been tabled in parliament. These could sometimes be periods longer than one financial year or even more than that.
This October’s mid-year budget review is expected this coming week.
This is the period when the National Assembly and the nation hear from the finance minister on what developments have actually impacted the budget as at the start of the financial year which is 1 April- but the budget is customarily revealed in February, as it ends on 31 March.
Namibia follows an annual budget cycle that is anchored in the country’s medium-term budget expenditure framework, a document that illustrates expenditure for a three-year rolling period.
“The resources are mobilised and distributed to ministries, agencies and offices of government. The execution is monitored, and the results are also monitored. And we have to give feedback to the public on how the resources were used,” she said.
The IPPR indicated in the presentation after Shafudah spoke that the country’s budget transparency ranking is below international standards. The country scored 53 out of 100, slipping by one point from 2023’s 54.
The ranking measures public participation, oversight, and budget transparency as the key performance indicators.
“This remains below the threshold of 61, which is considered sufficient for meaningful public understanding and debate on budget decisions,” the think tank explained.
On the opposite of this ranking, it is noted that Namibia performs better than the Sub-Saharan average of 38.
