Observer Money

Chamwe Kaira Namibians who have been pregnant with expectations that Nando’s, the South African franchise that specializes in Portuguese flame-grilled peri-peri style chicken will return to Namibia after its departure five years ago, will have to keep craving for it to return. Following numerous social media postings of Namibian travelers coming back with Nando’s mostly from South Africa, Observer Money sought to find out the latest regarding the franchise’s status in Namibia. We issued a statement in 2018 and there are no new developments or updates. As such, we will not be providing further comments on the topic. Nando’s had…

Niël Terblanché For the first time in three years, Namibia welcomed a large group of tourists that arrived from China on Friday evening. The 20 tourists who departed from Hangzhou city in south-eastern China made their first stop in neighbouring Zimbabwe, where they visited Victoria Falls, before travelling to Namibia. The visit by Chinese tourists follows a little more than a month after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared an end to the public health emergency of international concern. In short, it meant that COVID-19 was no longer a pandemic. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the WHO, in…

Hertta-Maria Amutenja The Central Bank’s Small and Medium Enterprises Economic Recovery Loan Scheme has paid out N$85.9 to 80 SMEs across the country to allow them to continue operating while providing further impetus to the revival of the economy. This was announced by the Bank of Namibia’s Strategic Communications and International Relations International Relations Director, Kazembire Zemburuka. Zemburuka said the recently relaunched loan scheme’s goal is to assist small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in fostering the nation’s economic recovery. “The loan scheme is designed to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to promote economic recovery. It involves the allocation of…

Martin Endjala With the discovery of oil and gas in Namibia, the country will need effective, practical, fair and transparent legal policies to evade the curse of other African countries like Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This was emphasized by the Institute for Public Policy Research Executive Director Graham Hopwood last week as he took a swipe at the upstream Petroleum sector in the country, amidst the discovery of oil and gas in the country and the recent announcement by the Mines and Energy Minister Tom Alweendo on the reviewing of the Petroleum Act which is long overdue.…

CHAMWE KAIRA While the focus in recent weeks has been the controversies surrounding the revocation of the lithium mining issued to Xingfeng investments by Minister of Mines and Energy, Tom Alweendo data obtained from the Chamber of Mines of Namibia show more companies are looking for lithium in Namibia. The demand for lithium has increased as the auto industry shifts towards electric vehicles (EVs) - spurred by proposed bans on fossil-fuel cars. China is the world’s top lithium refiner. One of the companies looking for lithium is Lepidico, which is a global lithium exploration and development company that is listed…

The highest import bill in March was petroleum (N$2.2 billion), followed by copper (N$1.5 billion) and vehicles for the transport of goods N$622 million, this is based on trade statistics released by the Namibia Statistics Agency. According to the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA), 145,345 tonnes of goods have exited the country by road in March 2023, compared to 138,875 in February 2023. Most of the road transport consisted of petroleum, fish, and live animals. Commenting on the trade statistics, Simonis Storm Securities, said due to the loadshedding in South Africa, the harbors cannot run at full capacity allowing for more…

This week Observer Money speaks to Gys Joubert, Gondwana Collection Namibia CEO about business in the aftermath of Covid-19. Observer Money (OM): Describe Gondwana’s recovery from the Covid 19 pandemic? Gys Joubert (GJ): I would describe it as measured. We are grateful that tourism is returning on quite an aggressive trajectory, but the impact of COVID-19 will linger for years to come. We turned profitable in the second half of 2022 and the changes and decisions we made during COVID-19 are enabling our ability now to repay debt incurred during the crisis. (OM): What is the current state of the…

Motorists can expect local fuel price cuts to be announced in coming months, however this is based on several factors. Simonis Storm Securities said it seems that its initial forecast of reaching N$25 per litre for petrol and diesel by end of 2023 are too pessimistic at this point in time. However, the improved outlook remains conditional on global brent remaining flat to slightly negative and for the rand to appreciate, the firm said. Ministry of Mines and Energy has disclosed an over-recovery of N$1.11 per litre on diesel and an under-recovery of N$0.95 per litre on petrol. As customary,…