Namibia’s trade deficit improves in March ‘22

In the past twelve months, except for April and November 2021, Namibia has been registering a trade deficit.

Namibia’s trade deficit improved in March 2022 to N$2.9 billion when compared to N$4.6 billion recorded in February 2022, according to the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) trade statistics.

For the period under review, export earnings stood at N$6 billion, a 3.4% decrease when compared to N$6.3 billion recorded in the preceding month.

In addition, imports amounting to N$8.9 billion were recorded, a 17.7% decrease when compared to N$10.8 billion registered in February 2022.

Diamonds was Namibia’s largest export commodity during March accounting for 25.0% of total exports mainly destined to Botswana, United Arab Emirates, Belgium and Hong Kong.

Diamonds were followed by fish in second position which accounted for 14.0% of total exports destined mostly to Spain, Zambia, South Africa and Mozambique.

Inorganic chemical elements ranked third on the list with a share of 8.0% destined mostly to Finland, Netherlands and Canada, NSA pointed out.

Non-monetary gold accounted for 8.0% of total exports of which was solely destined to South Africa. Finally, copper blisters which accounted for 7.2% of total export was mainly destined to the Netherlands, China and South Africa. The aforementioned top five export commodities jointly accounted for 62.2% of total exports, NSA said.

A total of N$2.4 billion, representing 40.0% share of total exports left the country by road. This transformed into an upsurge of 45.6% when compared to its February 2022 level of N$1.7 billion.

Additionally, a noticeable increase of 60.2% was noted when compared to its level of N$1.5 billion recorded in March 2021. Air and sea transportation accounted for 35.3% and 24.7% of total exports, respectively, NSA added.

Imports

South Africa remained Namibia’s largest source of imports with a share of 44.2% of the value of all goods received into the country during the month under review. Following in second place is China with a share of 6.2% of total imports, India came in the third-place accounting for 6.0% of Namibia’s total imports followed by Saudi Arabia and Brazil contributing 4.1% and 2.6%, respectively, NSA said.

The top five commodities imported into Namibia jointly accounted for 31.6% of total imports with Petroleum oils taking the lead with the largest share of 18.4%. Following in the second position is Civil engineering and contractors' equipment share of 3.8% of all commodities imported.

Diamonds were ranked third after contributing 3.4% to total imports while motor vehicles for the transport of goods and sugar, molasses and honey followed in the fourth and fifth position with contributions of 3.1% and 3.0%, respectively.

Transport by road continued being the most frequent mode of transport used for imports during the period under review. Imports by road reached to N$5.2 billion, representing 58.4% of all goods imported into the country. Sea transport came in the second position accounting for 34.5% of all goods imported into the country while 7.0% of goods arrived by air, NSA said.