19th July, 2018
Namibian Finance Ministry says it has secured a $218 million loan from the African Development Bank to help the country finance its budget deficit.
The ministry said on Thursday in Windhoek that the $218 million loan was the second tranche of a quarter billion dollar facility from the development lender.
The southern African nation’s mining-fueled economy contracted in the final two quarters of 2017, and by 0.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2018.
Its credit rating was cut to sub-investment late last year by Fitch over concerns of a deteriorating fiscal position.
The construction sector contracted partly because of a drop in investment in mining, while hotels and restaurants also performed weakly.
The ministry, however, said on Monday that the economy would expand by at least 1 per cent this year and by double that by 2020 as the mining sector emerged from years of contraction and as the impact of recent severe drought eased.
Finance Minister Calle Schlettwein said that the growth would be driven by rising commodity prices.