The government wage index report indicates a marginal growth of 0.1 per cent, with a recording of 134.7 basis points during the first quarter of 2021 compared to the 134.5 basis points recorded in the first quarter of 2020.
The report availed on Thursday by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) said the increase mainly emanates from the education sector which reacted to a growth of 1.6 per cent standing at 128 basis points in the first quarter of 2021.
“The growth is attributed to increased numbers of teachers within the public education sector. The public administration index, on the other hand, declined, posting 140.4 basis points during the period under review representing a reduction of 0.8 basis points relative to the 141 basis points witnessed in the corresponding quarter of 2020,” it said. The performance is ascribed to the reduction in the number of employees compensated within central government. Similarly, the health index contracted to 124 basis points during the first quarter of 2021 compared to 125 basis points in the same quarter of 2020, the report reads.
Furthermore, the agency’s Agricultural Statistics Bulletin issued on Thursday indicates that agricultural activities for the first quarter of 2021 experienced massive challenges such as locust outbreaks as well as Foot and Mouth Disease, which destroyed grazing land and restricted animal movement for marketing.
“The size of this sector for the first quarter of 2021 in value addition expanded to N.dollars 3.8 billion from N.dollars 3 billion registered in the first quarter of 2020,” it said.
The contribution of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sectors to the Gross Domestic Product in the first quarter of 2021 was 8.1 per cent an expansion from a share of 6.1 per cent recorded in the first quarter of 2020 it noted, saying that the sector’s trade deficit widened over a year from N.dollars 197 million recorded in the first quarter of 2020 to N.dollars 231.5 million recorded in the quarter under review, an indication of the increased dependency on imports during the quarter under review.
Source: Namibia Press Agency
