Nam economy takes a knockAfter showing promising growth in April, May and June last year, Namibia’s economy had its first taste of a recession in the second quarter of 2016. No respite yet for construction, tourism or mining 0 Namibia’s economy dipped into a decline in the second quarter of 2016, with the latest official statistics recording a contraction of 1.2%.The negative growth was mainly attributed to declines in the values of sectors like construction, hotels and restaurants, and mining and quarrying, contributed to the country’s GDP, the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) said in its second-quarter GDP report.
The construction sector specifically saw a 19.9% decline, as the value of buildings completed during the period fell by 42.7% compared to the same period in 2015, when it grew by 103%.
In addition, government construction, which showed stellar growth of 68.6% in the second quarter of 2015, slowed to a growth of 6.1% in the same period this year.
“The performance in the hotels and restaurants sector, as reflected in number of bed nights and room nights sold, declined by 14% and 14.4% respectively,” NSA Statistician-General Alex Shimuafeni said.
In the case of mining and quarrying, the sector was held back by a 30.8% decline in real value added by the diamond sub-sector, following a decline of 12.1% in the corresponding period in 2015.
Diamond production, Shimuafeni said, declined by 31.5% in the second quarter of 2016, compared to last year.
“In general, most sectors recorded slow growth and declines, except the electricity and water sector, which recorded a strong growth of 25.7% in real value, compared to 13.9% growth recorded in the same quarter of 2015,” the NSA Statistician-General said.
The NSA’s latest report also announced a revised GDP growth figure for the first quarter of this year. That figure was reduced from an initial 3.5% to 3.4%.