Sherbourne’s economic guide hailed

The who’s who of Namibian economics were in attendance yesterday when the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) launched what was hailed as the most detailed and comprehensive guide to Namibia’s economy yet. Authored by veteran local economist Robin Sherbourne, and released after his relocation to the United Kingdom in 2012, the ‘Guide to the Namibian Economy 2013/14’ is the third and expanded version of the book he first published in 2009. The 496-page book consists of 24 chapters dealing with the country’s macro-economy, its industrial sectors and unique cross-sectoral issues like commercial land reform, State-owned enterprises, black economic empowerment and the Namibian Stock Exchange. “One point about this book is that it is not just a collection of facts, tables and charts. His analysis is quite broadly accessible,” IPPR Executive Director Graham Hopwood said when launching the publication. “He forms his own opinions of course, but these are well-grounded in data. So if one is to disagree with his analysis, which we of course encourage, you would have to have a fairly good argument,” Hopwood said. Likewise, in his keynote address, Statistician-General Dr John Steytler urged educators to consider making the guide compulsory reading for economics students at tertiary level. The book did not make it through the event without criticism however, with Steytler citing areas like trade and census data, which he said were not as up-to-date as they could have been. Still, he credited the author for the sheer amount of information presented, given the difficulty with which economists traditionally struggle to get economic data from companies and government agencies. “When looking for data for an economic piece, it is not always forthcoming. With the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) we’ve been able to compel compliance, but considering his data was collected outside that framework, is really a testament to his perserverence,” Steytler said. Hopwood also addressed initial criticism of the book from diplomatic circles, that it was too critical of the local economy to attract investment. “In fact, investors are much less interested in a public relations exercise. They want well-grounded information which can inform their investment decisions, so we believe the publication [in its three editions] has been helpful for the Namibian economic environment,” he said.