Hertta-Maria Amutenja
The Bank of Namibia (BoN) and Banco Nacional de Angola (BNA) have signed an agreement to formally establish their collaboration and partnership as part of efforts to improve their bilateral relations.
The agreement was signed by the Governor of the Bank of Namibia, Johannes !Gawaxab and his counterpart Jose de Lima Massano in Luanda, Angola. “In this regard, the institutions have agreed to focus on effective utilisation of the existing regional cross-border payment systems as well as exploring retail payment options such as prepaid cards for the payment of goods and services. Other solutions being explored are trade related guarantees between banking institutions of the two countries,’ said !Gawaxab.
Last year the two institutions agreed to collaborate on various fronts, to further their respective price and financial stability mandates as well as execution of strategies to modernise national financial systems.
Kazembire Zemburuka Director of Strategic Communications and International Relations at BoN said the two central banks have prioritised trade facilitation through payments system integration enabled by digital capabilities as a means of realizing the efficient movement of goods and services between the two countries.
He added that the strategic focus area of the partnership is the elimination of revenue leakages for the respective countries by providing timely and accurate data and empirical evidence in terms of misaligned trade data to the detriment of revenue mobilization.
Additionally, he stated that in order to aid in mitigation efforts, the central banks will share data and research on trade and associated financial transactions.
“Furthermore, sharing of knowledge on financial inclusion initiatives will be prioritised to ensure that the peoples of both countries have access to quality, affordable and a broad spectrum set of financial services.
Although both countries acknowledged that the defunct currency conversion agreement which previously allowed the exchange of currencies at the border towns was beneficial, the two central banks have ruled out the activation of this conversion agreement at present as more convenient and cost-effective methods to facilitate trade are being prioritized,” Zemburuka stated.
Following the signing, Patrick Nandago, Namibia’s ambassador to Angola, received a courtesy visit from !Gawaxab and his delegation to inform him of the results of the negotiations.
