WINDHOEK, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's economy continued its post-2021 expansion in 2025, but the pace of growth slowed markedly to 1.7 percent from 3.8 percent in 2024, according to the Annual National Accounts released by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) on Thursday.
While presenting the report in Windhoek, Statistician-General Alex Shimuafeni said the weaker growth was mainly driven by a sharp contraction in primary industries.
According to the report, primary industries declined by 7.2 percent in 2025, compared with a 3.2 percent contraction in 2024, mainly due to weak performances in mining and quarrying, as well as agriculture, forestry and fishing.
Shimuafeni said mining and quarrying contracted by 9.4 percent, largely due to a 19.4 percent decline in diamond mining, while agriculture, forestry and fishing fell by 3.3 percent, mainly on the back of a 21.7 percent contraction in livestock farming.
Secondary industries posted slower growth of 2.1 percent in 2025, down from 3.6 percent in 2024, as manufacturing contracted by 2.9 percent, the report showed.
By contrast, tertiary industries remained the main source of support for the economy, expanding by 4.2 percent, although this was slower than the 5.2 percent growth recorded in 2024.
Growth in the services sector was broad-based, with information and communication rising by 10.7 percent, wholesale and retail trade by 7.8 percent, health by 6.6 percent, education by 4.7 percent, and public administration and defense by 3.8 percent.
On the expenditure side, final consumption expenditure grew by just 0.7 percent in 2025, sharply down from 11.6 percent in 2024.
The slowdown was mainly attributed to private final consumption expenditure, which declined by 0.3 percent after expanding by 13.6 percent a year earlier.
Despite the weaker real growth, Namibia's economy expanded in nominal terms, with gross domestic product rising to 269.8 billion Namibia dollars (about 15.8 billion U.S. dollars) in 2025 from 250 billion Namibia dollars in 2024, the report said. ■