Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
According to the African Development Bank, the Namibian economy slowed down in
2011 with a GDP growth rate of 3.8% and unemployment at over 50%, with a staggering
84% of 15- to 19-year-olds unemployed.
The mining sector employs only about 3% of the population, while about half of the
population depends on subsistence agriculture for its livelihood. Namibia normally im-
ports about 50% of its cereal requirements, and in drought years, food shortages are a ma-
jor problem in rural areas. Although the fishing industry is also a large economic force,
catches are typically canned and marked for export.
The Namibian economy is closely linked to the regional powerhouse of South Africa,
and the Namibian dollar is pegged one-to-one to the South African rand. In 2007 pay-
ments from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) put Namibia's budget into sur-
plus for the first time since independence.
The global recession greatly impacted Namibia's economic sector. Rising costs for min-
eral extraction and fish canning dented the profit margins on lucrative exports, and the
global decline in the price of precious metals and diamonds hit the economy. But as prices
recovered, Namibia's mineral riches, including some 11 billion barrels of oil reported to
have been discovered off the coast in 2011, look set to boost the economy for decades to
come, depending of course on global economic fortunes.
AN ARGUMENT FOR MINIMUM WAGE
IAN
KETCHESON
A teller at an import/export shop in Oshikango can expect to earn around US$75 per month. These are the same
shops that sell, in US dollars, everything from fridges to kitchen cupboards and motorcycles. The US$75 per
month wage is not unusual, and would compare to salaries paid to most service-sector workers. Manual labourers
and farm workers generally receive less.
To begin her day, the teller would need to walk several kilometres to her job in Oshikango. Transport into town
costs one dollar each way, so it would eat up half of her salary. She would have to bring her own food and drink,
as a Coke costs about US$0.75 and even the simplest lunch would cost at least US$2.
One night at the motel in Oshikango would cost her the equivalent of three weeks' salary; a tank of petrol
would eat up six weeks' wages; and she would have to save all her salary for 15 years to buy a used truck. All this
while she sells US$5000 motorcycles and US$500 fridges to wealthy Angolans, and converts their US hundred-
dollar bills into Namibian dollars.
Like South Africa, Namibia's economy has been built on the apartheid system's legacy of cheap labour, and as
a result, has produced an incredible gap between rich and poor in the country. While many things have changed in
the years since independence, this gap remains.
