Bank of Namibia Governor, Johannes !Gawaxab said the country’s commercial banks have repossessed houses worth N.dollars 230 million in the first six months of 2021, as COVID-19 continues to threaten job security.

He said this number doubled as between 2017 and 2019 on average the value of houses repossessed by banks were N.dollars 100 million.

“People lost their jobs and could not honour their obligation with the banks due to COVID-19, people lost income due to the lockdowns. It is not only in Namibia this is happening, but all over the world, if you are seeing this as a Namibian problem then one is missing the point,” stressed !Gawaxab.

!Gawaxab who revealed this during a public lecture at Keetmanshoop in recent days said in 2020 vehicle repossession dropped to N.dollars 15 million, which however increased to N.dollars 21 million in the first six months of this year.

He said out of 1 700 business closures recorded in the last three-year period, 40 per cent were recorded in 2019, 33 per cent in 2020 and 27 per cent recorded during the first nine months in 2021.

He added that closures were mainly observed in sectors such as tourism, construction, wholesale and retail trade, real estate as well as other business services including tour operators, consultancies, bookkeeping, clearing agents.

“Economic scarring from the past recessions and the impact of the pandemic largely led to the closures,” he cited.

!Gawaxab further said as from 01 January to 31 December 2020 a total of 12 238 employees were retrenched by 896 employers of which 9 396 employees were retrenched due to economic reasons or closure and business discontinuations, while 2 842 employees were retrenched due to COVID-19 related reasons.

Between January and June 2021, 1 444 employees were retrenched by 190 employers of which 1 377 were retrenched due to economic reasons or closure and business discontinuations, while 67 employees were retrenched due to COVID-19 related reasons.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency