Plundered into poverty
The country's raw materials continue to benefit foreign multinationals and a handful of locally connected tenderpreneurs.
Despite the government's undertaking to promote 'Growth at Home' to propel its intended industrialisation of the economy, its development budget for 2018/19 reflects a continued promotion of the ongoing extraction of raw materials and marine resources.
This, the latest Tender Bulletin (12-18 October 2018) says, is at the expense of a deepening of homegrown industrialisation and manufacturing, while agro-processing and tertiary manufacturing are being promoted among “largely unproductive” small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
“In mining, official development policies create the space for the unabated exploitation of Namibia's raw materials by foreign multinationals - aided by homegrown compradors - without beneficiation and the rampant speculation with public mining concessions for the private enrichment of a handful of locally connected individuals,” the Tender Bulletin states.
It says the fishing sector continues to be plagued by rent-seeking behaviour by locally well-connected individuals using black economic empowerment vehicles to speculate with government-allotted quotas, “fulfilling their role as compradors to foreign fishing multinationals from South Africa, Spain, Russia and China”. Moreover, in the quarrying and associated building materials sector, more potential remains untapped because the government pursues inputs from imported supplies for its own housing initiatives.
Industrialisation opportunities in the energy sector are also said to be largely overlooked.
The article states that trade continues to trump manufacturing and “turbo-charged SME tenderpreneurial promotion” erodes established local businesses through “mercantilist displacement” rather than diversifying the narrow manufacturing base.
What the development budget reflects, it adds, is a consumerist and “politically docile” black middle class being “carefully nurtured”.
It furthermore criticises the government's “ongoing allegiance” to value extraction by foreign interests at the expense of “inward” industrialisation, manufacturing and value-addition. The 'Growth at Home' strategy states that targeted support will be given to agro- and fishing processing at home, steel manufacturing, mineral beneficiation, building materials, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. The government's N$7.8 billion development budget for 2018/19 is 24% higher than the previous year's revised N$6.2 billion. The N$278 million project funding for the extractive and industrial sectors is 25% below last year's revised N$351 million, and the overall development budget contracted from 5.6% to 3.6%.
Project funding for industrialisation programmes has diminished by 34% and fisheries by 46%, while the budget for mining and energy has gone up by 55%. The Tender Bulletin reports a “mismatched economic performance”.
In 2015 the mining and fishing industries accounted for 63% in export earnings, with mining contributing 50%. However, the contribution of the mining and fishing industries to the gross domestic product (GDP) is merely 15%. Mining generates about 25% of the state's revenue in its extractive form. Fishing taxes also yield an “insignificant contribution” to government revenue, again leaving untapped potential for onshore processing.
CATHERINE SASMAN
Despite the government's undertaking to promote 'Growth at Home' to propel its intended industrialisation of the economy, its development budget for 2018/19 reflects a continued promotion of the ongoing extraction of raw materials and marine resources.
This, the latest Tender Bulletin (12-18 October 2018) says, is at the expense of a deepening of homegrown industrialisation and manufacturing, while agro-processing and tertiary manufacturing are being promoted among “largely unproductive” small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
“In mining, official development policies create the space for the unabated exploitation of Namibia's raw materials by foreign multinationals - aided by homegrown compradors - without beneficiation and the rampant speculation with public mining concessions for the private enrichment of a handful of locally connected individuals,” the Tender Bulletin states.
It says the fishing sector continues to be plagued by rent-seeking behaviour by locally well-connected individuals using black economic empowerment vehicles to speculate with government-allotted quotas, “fulfilling their role as compradors to foreign fishing multinationals from South Africa, Spain, Russia and China”. Moreover, in the quarrying and associated building materials sector, more potential remains untapped because the government pursues inputs from imported supplies for its own housing initiatives.
Industrialisation opportunities in the energy sector are also said to be largely overlooked.
The article states that trade continues to trump manufacturing and “turbo-charged SME tenderpreneurial promotion” erodes established local businesses through “mercantilist displacement” rather than diversifying the narrow manufacturing base.
What the development budget reflects, it adds, is a consumerist and “politically docile” black middle class being “carefully nurtured”.
It furthermore criticises the government's “ongoing allegiance” to value extraction by foreign interests at the expense of “inward” industrialisation, manufacturing and value-addition. The 'Growth at Home' strategy states that targeted support will be given to agro- and fishing processing at home, steel manufacturing, mineral beneficiation, building materials, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. The government's N$7.8 billion development budget for 2018/19 is 24% higher than the previous year's revised N$6.2 billion. The N$278 million project funding for the extractive and industrial sectors is 25% below last year's revised N$351 million, and the overall development budget contracted from 5.6% to 3.6%.
Project funding for industrialisation programmes has diminished by 34% and fisheries by 46%, while the budget for mining and energy has gone up by 55%. The Tender Bulletin reports a “mismatched economic performance”.
In 2015 the mining and fishing industries accounted for 63% in export earnings, with mining contributing 50%. However, the contribution of the mining and fishing industries to the gross domestic product (GDP) is merely 15%. Mining generates about 25% of the state's revenue in its extractive form. Fishing taxes also yield an “insignificant contribution” to government revenue, again leaving untapped potential for onshore processing.
CATHERINE SASMAN
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