Democracy, wind and sun

The former German colony is one of the smallest economies in southern Africa, but offers considerable advantages – first and foremost solid democratic structures, an independent judiciary and the best climatic conditions for generating solar and wind energy.

The government is currently focussing on green hydrogen and ammonia to make the country less dependent on mining. In addition, new lithium and copper mines are likely to lead to greater diversification in the raw materials sector, which is currently heavily dominated by diamond and uranium mining.

Several large-scale hydrogen projects worth billions are currently being planned, some with German involvement, which should boost growth from 2025 onwards. These include the das SCDI Namibian Green Hydrogen Project in the Tsau //Khaeb National Park near Lüderitz.

Economy. According to the IMF, the economy in Namibia grew by 4.6 percent in 2022 (Subsahara African average: 3.4 percent). For the current year, economists have calculated a growth rate of 2.5 percent. For 2024, a moderate growth of 3.0 percent is expected.

The long-term development is more impressive: Namibias gross domestic product per capita rose from the equivalent of 1773 to 4911 dollars over the last 20 years (however, with high social inequality). Inflation has recently been at a moderate level of around 6 percent. Public debt is at 72 percent of GDP.

Population. Namibia has around 2.6 million inhabitants. Annual population growth has declined from 1.8 to 1.4 percent in the last six years. Experts predict that the growth rate will remain at a similar level in the coming years In the last 20 years, the fertility rate has fallen from 3.7 to 3.2 per woman. Life expectancy was at 59 years recently. 55 percent of Namibians have access to electricity (twenty years ago, it was 37 percent).

Governance. On Transparency International’s latest Corruption Perceptions Index, Namibia ranks 59th out of 180. The score of 49 points makes Namibia the fifth best African country in the TI-Ranking after the Seychelles, Botswana, Rwanda and Mauritius (and better than the EU countries Romania and Bulgaria). However, Namibia has recently taken steps backwards: in 2018, the TI-score was at 53 points.

Sources and further information:

World Bank: https://data.worldbank.org/country/namibia

Africa Business Guide https://www.africa-business-guide.de/de/maerkte/namibia

Germany Trade & Invest: https://www.gtai.de/de/trade/namibia/wirtschaftsumfeld/namibias-wirtschaft-waechst-moderat-trotz-schwierigem-umfeld–274396

Transparency International: www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2022/index/nga