Africa-Press – Namibia. Namibia’s trade balance during August this year stood at a deficit of N$4,9 billion, compared to N$3,7 billion and N$4,1 billion recorded in July 2023 and August 2022, respectively.
This was announced by statistician general Alex Shimuafeni in the Namibia Merchandise Trade statistics bulletin for August 2023.
He says this is the largest deficit the country has recorded between August 2022 and August 2023.
According to the bulletin, during August 2023, Namibia’s export earnings decreased by 10,2% from N$8,2 billion recorded in the previous month to N$7,4 billion, while the import bill for the month increased by 3%, compared to N$12 billion recorded during the preceding month.
This has resulted in a trade deficit of N$4,9 billion, compared to a trade deficit of N$3,7 billion recorded in July this year.
“Namibia’s exports continue rising, recording N$67,2 billion for the first eight months of 2023, compared to N$61,3 billion registered during the same period in 2022.
“On the import side, cumulative trade for the first eight months amounted to N$87 billion, an increase of N$3,2 billion, compared to the same period of the previous year,” the bulletin says.
In August 2023, manufacturing emerged as the industry with the largest amount of exported goods, valued at N$4,7 billion, absorbing 63,2% of total exports, and products from the industry increased by N$713 million when compared to the previous month.
Products from the mining and quarrying industry came in second position absorbing 28,9% of the export bill in August 2023.
Exported goods from this industry decreased by N$1,7 billion month on month.
“On the analysis of commodity of the month, Namibia exported fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic invertebrates to the value of N$1,2 billion (of which N$14,3 million were re-exports), and imported the commodity at a value of N$45,5 million during August,” Shimuafeni says.
Namibia witnessed trade surpluses with Botswana (of N$1,5 billion), Belgium (N$569 million) and Zambia (N$554 million).
Trade deficits were recorded against South Africa (N$2,7 billion), China (N$639 million) and India (N$638 million) during the period under review.
During August Namibia’s top-five export markets accounted for 69,9% of total exports.
South Africa took first position as Namibia’s main export destination, accounting for 23,6% of exports.
Botswana came second with 20,6%, and Zambia took third position with a share of 9,9%.
Belgium and Spain, with shares of 8% and 7,8%, came fourth and fifth, respectively.
The top-five import markets for the country accounted for 58,6% of the import bill.
South Africa occupied pole position with 36,1%, followed by China with 6,7%, and India in third with 5,9%.
Germany and Saudi Arabia, with 5,4% and 4,6%, took fourth and fifth positions, respectively.
Precious stones (diamonds) were Namibia’s largest exported commodity in August 2023, accounting for 31,2% of total exports (of which 11,1% were re-exports) and were destined to Botswana, the United Arab Emirates and Belgium.
Fish was second on the list, accounting for 15,6% of the total exports, and was mostly destined to Spain and Zambia.
Non-monetary gold took third position on the list, contributing 12,7%, and was solely destined for South Africa.
Copper and copper articles were fourth on the list, accounting for 5,4% of total exports.
Copper and copper articles were mostly re-exported and were mainly destined for Belgium.
According to the bulletin, re-exports involve commodities imported by residents who assume short-term ownership of the commodities and then export them without undergoing any significant industrial transformation.
During August 2023, goods amounting to N$2,5 billion were re-exported, an increase of 35,7% month on month, and a decrease of 21,7% year on year when compared to N$1,8 billion recorded the previous month and N$3,2 billion observed during the same month of 2022.
For More News And Analysis About Namibia Follow Africa-Press
