Namibia launches intra-Africa trade strategy

It is expected that the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a game changer for the fortunes of regional economies, including Namibia, and could boost intra-African trade by about 33% and cut the continent’s trade deficit by 51%.

However, as Namibia aims to improve the competitiveness of its products and identify new African markets for domestic goods and services, it must address the infrastructure bottlenecks, both soft and hard.

"The infrastructure deficit remains the Achilles heel for Africa and continues to undermine economic growth and productivity, and raises transportation costs and reduces product competitiveness. For this, we must have an enduring solution if the continent is to fully achieve the objectives of the AfCFTA. And at the centre of that solution is critical infrastructure investments across the board."

This is according to Olayinka Bandele, chief of the Inclusive Industrialisation Section of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa’s (UNECA’s) sub-regional office for southern Africa, who spoke at the launch of the AfCFTA on Monday.

She said the commission is currently supporting the drafting of a comprehensive national trade policy for Namibia and also provides technical and financial assistance towards enhancing Namibia’s tourism statistics to support policy design and development of the sector.

Namibia is one of the 31 African Union member states that have ratified AfCFTA.

Address issues

Bandele said that while Namibia has unlocked access to a market of 1.3 billion people, providing opportunities for local entrepreneurs and the private sector to trade goods and services in the larger and dynamic African market, there remains a need for each country to address issues pertaining to the removal of tariffs and non-tariff barriers, as well as address risks that might emerge due to the country’s less competitive industrial base and products.

"It would be remiss of me not to highlight the urgency of the imperative for Namibia to diversify its manufacturing capabilities and produce more value-added merchandise goods. Failure to do so will continue to undermine the country’s competitiveness as Africa’s trade liberalises. “Importantly, this is key, especially for the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, whose productive capacity needs to be enhanced for competitiveness as the market opens up," she said.

Strong commitment needed

She said that whilst the diversification of export markets beyond the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will create opportunities, it will invariably expose Namibian producers and businesses to new challenges.

This therefore calls for the country to explore sources of efficiency improvements across the productive sector through policy and regulatory reforms and to build export readiness capacity across all sectors, especially manufacturing, such as value addition and services, to enhance competitiveness.

She advised that there must also be a strong commitment at the level of the firms to drive productivity, enhance quality control and invest in skill-capacity development at every level.

"This will also draw attention to e-commerce platforms or digital trade opportunities as an emerging opportunity for Namibia to penetrate regional supply chains, thereby enhancing access to continental and global markets. In addition, Namibia’s huge potential in agro-processing and fish processing; mineral processing and beneficiation; and service-driven value chains, particularly in tourism and travel; financial; transport; communication; business; educational and health services, offers opportunities in a larger market, and these opportunities should be grabbed."

Government at work

Meanwhile, Namibia’s trade minister, Lucia Iipumbu, said they are in the process of finalising the trade policy framework, which includes both trade in goods and services.

They are also busy with the finalisation of the Namibia Investment and Promotion Act to provide certainty and a framework for both domestic and international investors.

"We are also in the process of finalising the informal economy policy, especially in light of the fact that women are a predominant demographic, and for trade facilitation, we are about to roll out the logistics master plan and the national single window initiative. We are busy with the finalisation of the Special Economic Zone law and accompanying incentives following the completion of the policy."

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