Chamwe Kaira
Namibia’s economy grew by 1.7% in real terms in 2025, down from 3.8% recorded in 2024.
Real GDP measures total economic output adjusted for inflation, while nominal GDP reflects current prices without adjusting for inflation.
Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) statistician general Alex Shimuafeni said the slowdown was mainly driven by a decline in primary industries.
Primary industries contracted by 7.2% in real value added, compared to a decline of 3.2% in 2024.
The drop was driven by mining and quarrying as well as agriculture, forestry and fishing.
Mining and quarrying declined by 9.4%, while agriculture, forestry and fishing fell by 3.3%.
The agriculture decline was linked to livestock farming, which contracted by 21.7%.
The mining slowdown was mainly due to diamond mining, which declined by 19.4%.
Secondary industries recorded growth of 2.1%, down from 3.6% in 2024.
This was affected by the manufacturing sector, which declined by 2.9%.
Tertiary industries remained positive, growing by 4.2%, although lower than the 5.2% recorded in 2024.
In nominal terms, Namibia’s Gross Domestic Product stood at N$269.8 billion in 2025, up from N$250 billion in 2024. This reflects an increase of N$19.7 billion.
On the demand side, final consumption expenditure grew by 0.7%, down from 11.6% in 2024.
Private consumption declined by 0.3%, compared to growth of 13.6% in the previous year.
During the fourth quarter of 2025, production of controlled agronomy crops such as white maize, wheat and mahangu reached 22 643 tonnes, up from 4 758 tonnes in the same period of 2024. Wheat recorded the highest production at 21 058 tonnes.
Export earnings were mainly from maize, which accounted for 99.9% of total agronomy exports.
Imports of agronomy products declined by 43.4% to N$488 million, from N$863 million in the same quarter of 2024. Maize remained the highest imported grain at N$299.4 million.
Horticulture exports were valued at N$1.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025, slightly lower than N$1.4 billion recorded in the same period of 2024.
Imports of horticulture products declined by 0.5% to N$327.1 million.
The number of livestock auctioned increased by 38.9% to 114 989, up from 82 794 in the same quarter of 2024.
Total landings of quota species declined by 20.8% to 53 392 metric tonnes, compared to 67 382 metric tonnes in the same period of 2024. Horse mackerel recorded the highest landings at 30 896 metric tonnes.
Fish exports generated N$2.9 billion in foreign earnings, up from N$2.7 billion in the same quarter of 2024. Imports of fish products increased by 36.3% to N$136.9 million.
