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Two labour reports released

The majority of Namibians earned between N$ 1,000 and N$ 5,000 per month, while a "small minority" earned between N$ 29,000 and N$ 33,000 per month, a labour survey revealed. According to the "Namibia occupational wages survey of 2002, only released now, this was a very skewed income scale. About 3,982 companies were surveyed countrywide, 1,311 in rural areas and 2,671 in urban areas. Labour minister Alfeus Naruseb tabled 2 reports on labour surveys in Parliament this week. The second one, "Namibia Labour Force Survey" of 2004, revealed that some 888,348 Namibians were above the age of 15 and about 56 % or 493,448of them were economically active and of them 78 % were employed. Some 223,281 people were thus unemployed, the survey said. Unemployment officially stood at 36.7 %, not a surprise, as that was the rough estimate over the past years.

Fewer animals slaughtered at Meatco

Cattle supply to Meatco in Namibia south of the veterinary fence decreased from 143,305 to 138,949 in the past financial year, the beef and mutton marketing company said. In the latest annual report published during the annual general meeting of Meatco in Windhoek last Friday, said cattle supply north of the cordon fence, being the communal areas, however increased from 9,787 to 16,244 animals brought to the abattoirs. Revenue for Meatco and its subsidiaries increased from N$ 911,1 million to N$989,3 million in the last financial year, according to chairman Arne Gressmann. Namibia also exported more beef to EU countries during the year under review: exports came to 9,885 tonnes, some 76% of the 13,000 t quota per annum. In the preceding year, only 8,669 t were exported mostly to the UK and the Netherlands.

Fuel and electricity costs drive inflation

Food and housing, electricity, fuel and gas categories were the main reasons behind the increase in the inflation, the Bank of Namibia said. Food inflation averaged at 4.9 percent during the first four months of 2006 compared to 3.8 % during the same time 2005. The rain was reported to have been more than normal during the past rainy season and this has negatively affected the cereal harvest. The annual inflation for housing, fuel and gas also increased to 3.2 % from 2.3 % during the preceding period. The annual inflation rate continued to rise as observed since January 2006. The highest inflation rate of 4.6 % was reached in March 2006, although it subsided slightly to 4.4 % in April 2006. The average inflation for the first 4 months reached 4.1 % – higher than 2.1 % registered at the same time in 2005, the Bank of Namibia says.

It forecasts that the projected inflation for the year ending 2006 will average around 4.8 %. The most important inflation risks "are the increase in international crude oil prices, the recent exchange rate depreciation and the increase in food prices." BoN governor Tom Alweendo said. Inflation was expected to remain within the range of 4.4 and 5.7 % through 2007 to the first quarter of 2008 according to the Bank’s inflation forecasting model.

At the end of last week the Bank of Namibia (BoN) increased the Bank lending rate by 50 basis points from 7 to 7.5 % with immediate effect. It followed a decision of the South African Reserve Bank. As a result, most commercial banks immediately upped their interest rates by 0.5 % but some increased rates of housing loans only by 0.25 %.

Agra invests into Namibia

Agra is busy upgrading the Auas Valley Shopping Mall together with its Windhoek-based branch to make it more customer focused and enhance the general trading environment.

Currently the Auas Valley Shopping Mall and the Agra branch have two separate entrances. With the renovations to the building the Agra main entrance will be moved to the southern side of the building to the main entrance of the shopping mall, where ample parking is available. As a result, clients shopping at the mall have easier access to Agra, and the shopping mall is in close reach to Agra shoppers. It is anticipated that tenants of the mall will benefit from more traffic, while mall shoppers can now easily access the Agra branch for a wide variety of gardening and outdoor products.

"Further to the successful implementation of our new computer system for our retail trading operation, upgrading our Windhoek branch is another step in our quest to become the destination of choice for the Namibian farmer", says Kobus Jacobs, branch operations manager of Agra. "The Windhoek branch will become a modern, well merchandised destination. Taking cognizance of feedback received from our clients and members, we will expand and improve our existing range, and at the same time cater for a wider audience," Jacobs added.

Property manager Max Holdt elaborates on structural changes to the branch. "Supplier deliveries will in future be separated from the customer service area, increasing convenience and the shopping experience for consumers. Loading facilities for farmers with bulky purchases will be increased. In addition to the shaded we parking we already offer at Auas Valley Shopping Mall, more secure parking will be available for farmers who have already made some purchases and need extra security while they shop at Agra before leaving for the farm", Holdt added. The renovation exercise will cost about N$7,5 million.

Eskom hopes for warm winter

The chief executive of South Africa’s power utility, Thulane Gcabashe said Eskom would need 35,473 mega watt (MW) of electricity on the coldest night of this year’s winter. With a much colder winter forecast, this figure had been slightly revised from a lower 35 000 MW. It also represented an increase of almost 6% from last year’s 33,500 MW, which was a milder-than-normal winter, Gcabashe said at a conference in Johannesburg recently.
Eskom’s available capacity for this year is 36,208 MW including exports to neighbouring countries like Namibia and Zimbabwe, but Gcabashe said South Africa’s supply and demand graph was "too tight to be comfortable", adding that this squeeze was to remain for some years.

He said that South Africa had reached the end of an era of surplus supply and that it only had a 7% reserve, while a country needed a reserve of between 10% and 15%. Meanwhile, the nuclear Koeberg power station at the Cape will only supply half its normal capacity for most of the next 2 winter months and there are some concerns regarding Eskom’s ability to supply the demand in that region.

But Gcabashe said that the Western Cape Recovery Plan was on schedule and that repairs at the Koeberg Unit 1 would be completed soon. The refuelling of Koeberg Unit 2 would started and it was expected to be complete by the end of July, after which Koeberg would return to full capacity of 1,800 MW.