Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) Youth League spokesperson Maximilian Katjimune said government’s excessive borrowing which is expected to increase to N.dollars 138.4 billion in the 2022/23 financial year, demonstrates that there is no regard for Namibia’s future generations.
Contributing to the Mid-Year Budget Review debate in the august House on Tuesday, Katjimune stressed that young people are concerned about the country’s ever-rising public debt, a high potential threat to the future generation.
He argued that although the 2022/23 budget was dedicated to the youth under the theme ‘Reimaging a Better Future for the Youth’, it does not speak to handing over a sustainable economy to future generations, stressing that the youth will inherit a debt-ridden country.
According to Finance Minister Iipumbu Shiimi, the public debt stock is expected to increase to N.dollars 138.4 billion, equivalent to 69.6 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2022/23, with debt servicing costs surpassing the 10 per cent sustainability threshold.
Meanwhile, in the 2022 Sovereign Debt Ranking, Namibia was ranked among the Top 10 countries most likely to default on debt obligations in 2022, with the country having scored 9.4 per cent on government bond yield, with 593 basic points.
“Namibia’s government debt has more than doubled in the past five years, and the government has been borrowing the equivalent of N.dollars 32.5 million dollars every day for the past five years. This reckless and excessive borrowing demonstrates that the government has no regard for the future generations of this country,” Katjimune fumed.
Landless People’s Movement (LPM) member of Parliament, Edson Isaak said the overall economic outlook remains subdued and very limited with a growth projection of less than 3 per cent, besides the high public debt.
He noted that the budget review is more responsive to the need for more allocation in the social sector than to productive sectors such as the agricultural sector that present an opportunity for restructuring the economy.
Isaak further said the finance minister projects that revenue will increase over the next three years by 2.4 per cent to about N.dollars 80 billion, therefore it is important for the minister to prioritise debt servicing to ensure debt stability.
Shiimi on 25 October 2022 tabled the 2022/23 Mid-Term Budget Review of N.dollars 65.6 billion that was made possible by improved revenue collection which stood at N.dollars 30.4 billion by September 2022 from better-than-expected individual income taxes, corporate income tax, value added tax and dividends from Debmarine Namibia.
Source: The Namibian News Agency
