Justicia Shipena
President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has approved the national budget for 2025/2026 by signing the Appropriation Amendment Act of 2025 into law.
The act updates the amounts allocated to government institutions to meet the state’s financial requirements for the year ending 31 March 2026.
The office of the President receives an extra N$5 million, raising its allocation from N$1.458 billion to N$1.463 billion, according to the government gazette published on 19 November.
For the current financial year, the office was allocated more than N$1.4 billion.
When the budget was motivated in Parliament in April, prime minister Elijah Ngurare said it had increased by N$466 million from the previous N$991 million allocated in 2024/25.
At that time he said more than N$1.2 billion was set aside for operational costs, making up 83%, while N$245 million was reserved for development spending.
Ngurare had explained that the increase followed the shift of three directorates to the office of the President: marginalised communities, disability affairs and the upstream oil and gas directorate.
According to the government gazette, the office of the prime minister also receives a higher allocation, rising from N$635.9 million to N$666.2 million.
The National Assembly’s budget increases from N$398.2 million to N$443.2 million.
The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN), preparing for the 2025 elections, receives an increase from N$647.8 million to N$677.8 million.
The Ministry of Education sees the largest upward adjustment, rising from N$24.82 billion to N$25.55 billion.
Health and Social Services increases from N$12.26 billion to N$12.29 billion.
Several ministries receive reduced allocations.
Finance decreases from N$14.6 billion to N$14.4 billion; defence drops slightly from N$7.49 billion to N$7.48 billion; and mining, energy, and industry fall from N$939 million to N$851 million.
Meanwhile, Sport, Youth and National Service declines from N$1.26 billion to N$1.02 billion.
Other reductions affect Labour Relations, Environment, Forestry and Tourism, Works and Transport, Agriculture and Land Reform and the Anti-Corruption Commission.
Despite the changes, the national budget remains at N$89.4 billion, showing the shifts are internal reallocations, not increased expenditure.
When finance minister Ericah Shafudah tabled the Appropriation Amendment Bill in October, the total budget also remained unchanged.
However, she increased the operational budget by N$826 million, bringing it to N$80.6 billion for the current year.
The amended budget allows the government to move funds toward priority areas such as elections, education and governance, while reducing spending in votes with lower requirements.
