Chamwe Kaira
The Producer Price Index (PPI) for production recorded declines in the second quarter, dropping by -3.1% quarter-on-quarter and -2.5% year-on-year.
The drop was mainly driven by falling manufacturing prices, which contracted by 9.3% compared to the previous quarter.
Statistician general and Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) chief executive officer, Alex Shimuafeni, said the annual decline was mostly influenced by lower prices in the mining and quarrying sector, which fell by 5.1%.
The PPI tracks average changes in prices received by domestic producers for goods and services sold locally and abroad.
Despite the annual decline, the index for mining and quarrying grew by 4.5% in the second quarter, rising to 96.3 basis points from 92.2 in the previous quarter. This was supported by higher prices for salt (29.0%), gold (16.0%), and uranium (8.8%).
On a year-on-year basis, however, the mining and quarrying index dropped by 5.1%, falling from 101.5 to 96.3 basis points. The agency noted that while the sector showed an overall decline, gold prices grew strongly by 63%.
The manufacturing index declined by 10.7 basis points in the second quarter, from 114.6 to 103.9 basis points, representing a 9.3% contraction.
“This decline was largely driven by substantial price declines in sub-sectors such as diamond cutting and polishing (-40.5%) and the manufacture of non-metallic mineral products such as cement (29.9%),” NSA said.
On an annual basis, the manufacturing index fell slightly by 0.2%, from 104.1 basis points in the same quarter last year to 103.9.
The decrease was mainly influenced by lower prices in diamond cutting and polishing (-26.8%) and non-metallic mineral products like cement (-16.9%).
The electricity generation, transmission, and distribution index remained unchanged at 100.0 basis points, with no growth recorded since the third quarter of 2024. On an annual basis, the index also remained flat, maintaining the same level since the third quarter of 2023.
The water collection, treatment, and supply index dropped slightly by -0.1% to 101.0 basis points from 101.1 in the previous quarter. Year-on-year, the index increased from 100.0 to 101.0 basis points, reflecting a 1.0% rise in prices.
