Tourism, trade the bulk of business

About 49% of businesses surveyed by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) during its census mapping were in the accommodation and food service sectors.Around 25% were in wholesale and retail trade.Data of 61 502 businesses are included in the NSA’s Census Mapping Basic Report 2019/21. Of this, 30 212 were in the accommodation and food service sectors, while 15 496 were in wholesale and retail trade.According to the NSA, most establishments operating the accommodation and food service sectors were sole proprietorships (84.4%), followed by close co-operations (12.7%).The same was true for wholesale and retail establishments: 63.1% were sole proprietorships and close co-operations represented 26.7% of the total. About 9.3% were limited liability private companies.RECOVERINGThe more than 45 700 businesses in the above two sectors were particularly hard hit by the recession and Covid-19 pandemic, according to economic growth figures of the NSA.The latest gross domestic product (GDP) stats show wholesale and retail grew by 0.5% in the second quarter of this year. Although mostly very low, wholesale and retail has been growing positively since the second quarter of last year. Before that, the sector from 2017 to 2020 spent all quarters in the red, except for the second quarter of 2018. In nominal terms, wholesale and retail contributed nearly N$4.96 billion or 10.2% to the GDP in the second quarter.In real terms, its contribution was nearly N$3.27 billion, significantly lower that the about N$4.4 billion of the last quarter of 2016.Hotels and restaurants – an indicator of the performance of the tourism sector – grew by 8.9% in the second quarter of this year.The sector is recovering from 2020, when the pandemic plunged it into the red in all four quarters, with the worst growth figures of -44.9% and -35.1% in the second and third quarters respectively.Except for the last quarter of 2021, hotels and restaurants have been recording positive growth figures since the second quarter of last year.In nominal terms, the sector contributed N$974 million or 2% to the GDP in the second quarter.In real terms, hotels and restaurants contributed N$593 million, compared to a peak of N$877 million in the third quarter of 2019.OTHER BUSINESSESA total of 2 854 manufacturing establishments were included in the NSA’s Census Mapping Basic Report 2019/21. Most – about 48.3% - were close corporations, followed by limited liability private companies with 8.2%.Only 0.3% or about 18 451 companies were public companies with limited liability. Other sectors with a large number of businesses were: financial and insurance (654); professional, scientific and technical activities (681); administrative and support services (643); transport and storage (434); and agriculture, forestry and fishing (396).According to the report, there were 60 mining and quarrying businesses and 218 information and communication establishments.Of the businesses surveyed, government owned about 91% in public administration and defence, 68.5% in education, 41.7% in water supply, and 36.2% in health and social work. Government’s stake in other sectors include: electricity supply (5%); construction (5.9%); transport and storage (11.5%); information and communication (11.5%); real estate activities (11.1%); and professional, scientific and technical activities (24.6%).

Tourism, trade the bulk of business

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-02

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Tourism, trade the bulk of business

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-02

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