Windhoek: A 2025 quarterly bulletin of the Bank of Namibia (BoN) indicated that the central government's debt stock increased on an annual basis during the fiscal year ending June 2025, while total loan guarantees declined over the same period.
According to Namibia Press Agency, the bulletin released on Tuesday stated that the country's total debt stock stood at N.dollars 171.4 billion at the end of June 2025, reflecting an 8.8 per cent increase from the previous year. The rise was primarily attributed to higher issuances of Treasury Bills (TBs) and Internal Registered Stock (IRS).
In contrast, the central government's external debt declined modestly over the same period, partly on account of the principal repayment of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) that started in the second half of 2024 and the appreciation of the Namibia dollar against major currencies, it read.
'As a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), government debt stock moderated to 61.7 per cent, down from 62.7 per cent recorded in June 2024,' the bulletin stated, noting that the central bank projects the debt stock to dip temporarily in October 2025 when a US$750 million Eurobond is repaid, but resume rising thereafter to reach N. dollars 172.4 billion by the end of the 2025/26 financial year, equating to 62.0 per cent of GDP.
In contrast, central government loan guarantees as a percentage of GDP declined by 1.0 percentage point year-on-year to 3.0 per cent in the quarter under review. At this ratio, total loan guarantees remained significantly below the government's set ceiling of 10.0 per cent of GDP, indicating low contingency liability risk.
The quarterly bulletin further indicated that Namibia's domestic economy slowed to 1.6 per cent in real GDP growth in the second quarter of 2025, compared to 3.3 per cent in the same quarter of 2024, and 2.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2025. The weaknesses were observed in manufacturing, fishing and fish processing on board and agriculture, which registered contractions during the period under review.