CHAMWE KAIRA
Namibia exported goods to a value of N$218.7 million during the period 2015 to 2022 to Kenya, Namibia Statistics Agency has revealed.
Statistician General, Alex Shimuafeni said on the demand side, Namibia imported goods amounting to N$89.2 million from Kenya over the same period.
The statistics on Kenya was part of the NSA’s comment on the intra-Africa trade that looked at Namibia’s trade with Kenya.
The NSA commented that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is one of the flagship projects of Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want. It is a high ambition trade agreement, with a comprehensive scope that includes critical areas of Africa’s economy, such as digital trade and investment protection, amongst other areas.
The specific objective of the AfCFTA is to progressively eliminate tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade in goods and liberalize trade in services; cooperate on investment, intellectual property rights and competition policy.
The NSA further said during April 2023, Namibia imported goods amounting to N$ 4.3 billion from the rest of Africa with goods valued at N$0.1 million being sourced from Kenya, whereas, on the supply side, the country supplied Africa with goods worth N$ 4.2 billion during the month under review with N$1.9 million of goods destined to Kenya. The export basket to Kenya mainly comprised of alcoholic beverages.
The specific objective of the AfCFTA is to progressively eliminate tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade in goods and liberalize trade in services; cooperate on investment, intellectual property rights and competition policy.
Shimuafeni said during April 2023, the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) took the first position as the largest source of imports for Namibia, contributing 47.3 percent and supplied Namibia mainly with motor vehicles for the transportation of goods, alcoholic beverages, and maize.
Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) was in the second position with a share of 19.8 percent of all goods imported providing the country mostly with ‘Iron and steel bars’, petroleum oils and motor vehicles for the transportation of goods.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Developmen (OECD) and the European Union (EU) ranked in third and fourth positions accounting for 18.0 percent and 9.4 percent shares of total imports. OECD and the EU supplied the country mostly with ‘wheat and meslin’, petroleum oils and motor vehicles for the transportation of goods.
Lastly, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) took the fifth position as the largest source of Namibia’s imports, having a percentage share of 1.4 percent, the import basket from the region comprised mainly of Petroleum oils, ‘civil engineering and contractors’ equipment’ and tobacco.
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