WINDHOEK, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of Namibia (BoN) on Wednesday kept its repo rate unchanged at 6.75 percent to maintain its currency peg to the South African rand and support domestic economic activity.
The central bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) made the decision after reviewing domestic, regional, and global economic conditions, said BoN Governor Johannes Gawaxab in Windhoek, the capital.
"The domestic economy maintained positive momentum during the first six months of 2025. Domestic inflation has remained subdued since the previous MPC meeting, while growth in Private Sector Credit Extension improved further," he said.
According to Gawaxab, growth was supported by uranium mining, tourism, wholesale and retail trade, transport and communication, crop farming, and electricity generation, while diamond mining remained weak.
The central bank projects gross domestic product growth of 3.5 percent in 2025 and 3.9 percent in 2026, citing weaker primary industry output, particularly in livestock farming.
According to the bank, inflation averaged 3.6 percent in the first seven months of the year, compared to 4.8 percent a year earlier, due to lower housing and alcoholic beverage prices and deflation in transport costs. It projects inflation at 3.8 percent in 2025 and 4.2 percent in 2026.
The merchandise trade deficit narrowed by 28.2 percent to 12.8 billion Namibian dollars (about 731 million U.S. dollars) in the first half of the year, mainly on higher uranium and gold export earnings.
International reserves reached 58.1 billion Namibian dollars at the end of July, equivalent to 3.8 months of import cover, which the bank said is sufficient to sustain the currency peg and meet external obligations. ■
