Niël Terblanché
John Steytler, a seasoned Economist and a former Presidential Economic Advisor, has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Development Bank of Namibia.
The appointment was announced by Sarel van Zyl, the DBN’s Board of Directors chairperson.
In a statement, Van Zyl expressed confidence and support to the incoming CEO and wished him well as he came to champion the strategic direction of the DBN with the help of a seasoned team of executives.
“I expect Dr Steytler and his executive team to play a significant role in the recovery and future development of the Namibian Economy and its people,” Van Zyl said.
According to Van Zyl, Steytler emerged as the successful candidate for the CEO position after a protracted independent recruitment process.
The newly appointed DBN CEO currently serves as a Project Leader of Sustainable Development Goals at GIZ Namibia and will start his tenure at the DBN on the 1st of September 2023.
Prior to his appointment at GIZ Namibia, he served as an Economic Advisor to the President of the Republic of Namibia.
He is also credited with establishing Namibia’s first National Statistics Office and served four years as the founding Statistician General at the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA).
Steytler has a wealth of domestic and international experience in the public and private sectors with a special focus on macroeconomics and international economics.
As Head of Research and Chief Economist at the Bank of Namibia, John pioneered the formalisation of Namibia’s Monetary Policy Framework and oversaw a number of important research papers with significant impact on the Namibian Financial system, such as optimal utilization of Namibia’s large contractual savings pool for local economic development and the development of the Namibia Financial Sector Charter.
According to Van Zyl, Steytler has a deep understanding of the socio-economic development trajectory of Namibia which includes associated challenges and opportunities.
Steytler’s contract with the DBN will run for a period of five years.
