Namibia’s trade deficit exacerbated to N$3.3 billion from the revised deficit of N$619 million recorded in March 2022 and far worse from a surplus of N$365 billion witnessed in April 2021, the Namibia Statistic Agency (NSA) has said.
In a trade bulletin released today, NSA noted that on the contrary the month of April 2022, saw Namibia’s total merchandise trade amounting to N$14.4 billion, a decrease of 20.3 percent when compared to N$18.0 billion recorded in March 2022 and an increase of 13.0 percent when compared to N$12.7 billion recorded in April 2021.
“Namibia’s trade composition by partner showed that South Africa emerged as Namibia’s largest market for exports whereas Botswana came in second position as the largest source market for the country. The composition of the export basket for the month of April 2022 was mainly comprised of minerals such as Precious stones (diamonds), Uranium as well as Non-monetary gold.
“Fish continued to be the only non-mineral commodity within the top five products exported. On the other hand, the import basket was mainly comprised of Petroleum oils, Inorganic chemical elements, Sulphur and unroasted iron pyrites as well as Motor vehicles for the transportation of goods,” the agency said in the bulletin.
For the month of April 2022, re-exports decreased by 42.1 percent month-on-month and a decrease of 10.7 percent year-on-year. The re-exports basket mainly consisted of Precious stones (diamonds), which accounted for 26.8 percent, Petroleum oils with a share of 12.1 percent, Copper blisters with a share of 10.5 percent and Printed matter accounting for 5.9 percent.