Editorial: Put faces to Namibia’s economic growth

Economic growth cannot be declared a success simply because government or an international financial institution says the economy expanded by three, four, or five per cent.

President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah put the missing human measure into that debate at Ongwediva when she said growth must be felt “not only in statistics but also in households”.

That should become the test against which Namibia judges economic performance.

GDP can rise because a mine expands, commodity prices improve, or billions are invested in an industry without that additional wealth spreading widely.

Profits may accrue to shareholders, industries may import much of what they need, and capital-intensive projects may create relatively few jobs, while unemployment, stagnant incomes and rising prices continue shaping everyday life.

We therefore need to put faces to the statistics.

Behind every unemployment percentage is someone looking for work; behind every inflation figure is a household buying less food; and behind every growth figure should be evidence of businesses expanding, workers earning more and families living better.

Whenever growth is announced, government should tell us not only how much the economy grew but also who benefited. Until we put improving lives ahead of improving numbers, economic growth remains an incomplete measure of progress.