Analysis and Studies - Country Analysis
Namibia: a look at the market
March 16th 2023
In the South-West coast of Africa is located the driest country in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a large territory and a small population: Namibia.
The country has been a protectorate of Germany from the late 1800s until the First World War, when South Africa took control of it and administered it under a 1920 League of Nations mandate. After struggling for years to gain independence, Namibia finally obtained it in 1990, with inter-racial reconciliation.
Since then, the political situation of the country has become more stable and poverty has decreased, making Namibia an upper-middle income country. However, the society is marked by significant inequality which was also worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The economy of Namibia
The economy of the country is mostly based on mining, which provides the majority of export revenue. As a matter of fact, in 2020 Namibia was the world's biggest exporter of Uranium and Thorium Ore ($88.3M), while also exporting Raw Copper ($1.37B), Gold ($950M), Diamonds ($750M), Radioactive Chemicals ($561M), and Refined Copper ($367M), mostly to China ($1.82B), South Africa ($1.21B), Botswana ($498M), Belgium ($348M), and Spain ($251M).
Other mainstays of the economy are fishing, farming, metallurgy, food processing, construction, logistics services, and tourism.
Namibia also imports Raw Copper ($1.18B), Copper Ore ($526M), Refined Petroleum ($466M), Refined Copper ($362M), and Electricity ($171M), mostly from South Africa ($2.67B), Zambia ($1.35B), Democratic Republic of the Congo ($374M), China ($319M), and Bulgaria ($210M).
In 2020, Namibia was the number 141 economy in the world in terms of GDP (current US$), the number 106 in total exports, and the number 116 in total imports.
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