Observer Money

The chief executive officer of Letshego Microfinancial Services Namibia, Melvin Hosea Angula, addressed global policymakers this week at the Alliance for Financial Inclusion's (AFI) Global Policy Forum 2025 in Swakopmund, sharing how AI, digital identity, and microfinance can close the financial inclusion gap in Africa. Angula’s presentation, titled Leveraging Technology to Improve Supervision and Regulation: The Taamba Maris Case Study, highlighted Namibia’s first instant mobile credit product developed with MTC Maris. He said the platform is transforming access to finance while giving regulators real-time visibility. “We built Taamba Maris not just for speed, but for trust. By embedding safeguards like…

Justicia Shipena  Civil servants will be able to access home loans under the Pension Backed Home Loan Scheme (PBHLS) starting January 2026.  The Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) and the office of the prime minister signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to implement the scheme on Wednesday. The MoA was signed by secretary to cabinet Emilia Mkusa and GIPF chief executive officer Martin Inkumbi. The scheme allows qualifying members to borrow up to one-third of their pension savings to buy or build a home, purchase land, or renovate existing properties in both proclaimed and unproclaimed areas.  Inkumbi said  the loans…

Chamwe Kaira The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) was Namibia’s largest export destination in June, taking 30% of total exports, data from the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) shows. The BRIC+5 bloc followed closely with 29.9%, while the European Union (EU) accounted for 12.5%. COMESA made up 11.6% and the OECD 9.1%. Exports to SACU were mainly non-monetary gold and diamonds. The BRIC+5 bloc received mostly uranium.  The EU market imported fish, beef and ores and concentrates of base metals. COMESA’s main imports from Namibia were fish, sulphur, unroasted iron pyrites and rubber tyres. The OECD market took uranium and nickel…

Chamwe Kaira Andrada Mining Limited has started exploration drilling at its Lithium Ridge project in the Erongo Region.  The company is working with Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile SA through its subsidiary SQM Australia (Pty) Ltd. The drilling forms part of the first stage of a three-stage earn-in agreement with SQM. Under this stage, SQM will fund up to U$7 million in exploration to secure an initial 30% interest. Across all three stages, SQM may fund up to U$40 million. The programme involves 14 000 metres of orientated diamond drilling on priority lithium targets.  It also includes high-resolution geological…

Chamwe Kaira  Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd says drilling of the Kavango West 1X exploration well remains on schedule and expects to reach total depth by the end of November. The well spudded on 31 July. Brian Reinsborough, president and chief executive officer, said the operations team in Namibia is making steady progress. “We anticipate entering the Otavi reservoir, the primary target for the Damara Fold Belt Play, in October and plan to penetrate over 1500 metres of potential reservoir section. We look forward to reporting results of this play opening well to all stakeholders around year-end,” he said.  The well…

Chamwe Kaira Namibia’s annual inflation rate eased to 3.5% in July from 3.7% in June, resuming the downward trend seen earlier in the year.  However, an analyst has warned that risks remain skewed to the upside heading into the last part of 2025. Almandro Jansen of Simonis Storm Securities said imported cost pressures continue to present the main threat.  He pointed to the 30% US tariff on South African exports and ongoing reviews of US tariffs on Chinese goods as new sources of uncertainty in global supply chains. “For Namibia, the short-term impact may involve marginal relief from surplus South…

Chamwe Kaira Capricorn Group has told shareholders it expects profit after tax, earnings per share and headline earnings per share for the year ended 30 June 2025 to rise by between 12% and 17% compared to the previous year. The audited results are scheduled for release on or about 18 September. In the 2024 financial year, Capricorn reported profit after tax of N$1.74 billion, up 17.7% from N$1.48 billion in 2023. Return on equity increased to 17.9% from 17.6%. The growth was attributed to strong results across its businesses, including Bank Windhoek, Bank Gaborone, Capricorn Asset Management, Entrepo Group, Peo…

Chamwe Kaira  The new executive committee of the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) Lüderitz branch has pledged to represent businesses of all sizes. It will focus on creating an enabling environment that promotes entrepreneurship, youth empowerment, and investment. Alex Gawanab was elected chairperson, with Daniel Hooft as vice-chairperson. Both are prominent figures in the local business community, representing the fishing industry and the emerging kelp-linked sector. In his acceptance speech, Gawanab said Lüderitz has the resources to drive economic growth in the town and the Karas Region through both established industries and new sectors.  He said the committee…

Shoprite Group results for the 52 weeks ended 29 June surpassed a N$250 million mark, the group announced on Tuesday. Chief executive officer Pieter Engelbrecht said the group achieved sales growth of N$20.6 billion for the period. Engelbrecht said the group returned N$16.5 billion at point of sale while successfully maintaining its selling price inflation at only 2.3% in its core Supermarkets RSA segment.  The group has 30 million customers, and in terms of sales performance in its core Supermarkets RSA segment, the Shoprite and Usave brands saw a sales increase of 5.9%, translating to N$6.5 billion in sales growth…

Chamwe Kaira  The recent announcement of a 15 percent tariff on Namibian exports to the US and a 30% tariff on South African goods has implications that go beyond trade flows, analyst Almandro Jansen of Simonis Storm Securities has warned.  Jansen said these measures will also affect how money moves across borders, particularly through the  Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) system,  the backbone of international payments. SWIFT is used by over 11 000 financial institutions worldwide. It allows banks to send payment instructions, settle cross-border trade, and communicate in a standard format.  Almost every Namibian dollar earned from…