The ministry of regional, local government and housing overspent with N$ 22,1 million in the financial year ending in March 2001. The latest auditor general’s report on the accounts of that ministry tabled in parliament this week, further revealed that another N$ 1,17 million was outstanding from travel and subsistence allowances made in advance to 247 staff members, which were not paid back. It was unacceptable, the auditor general, Mr Junias Kandjeke, stated in his report, that his letters to the ministry were "continuously ignored". The ministry, according to the AG, should start to reconcile its ledgers on a monthly basis. One staff member received N$ 23 210.61 in advance for a trip between 15 August and 9 September 1999. The advance voucher could not be submitted for auditing purposes, the AG criticized.

Representatives of 2 subsidiaries of the powerful Lev Leviev group in Israel, Tahal and Africa Israel investments, are in Namibia for a five-day visit, looking for investment opportunities. According to Mr Pinchas Cohen, both companies have subsidiaries worldwide and have developed major projects like desalination plants, solar energy projects, large-scale irrigation and water recycling. Experience in these fields resulted from Israel’s arid climate and the necessity to recycle water and obtain food sufficiency. In Namibia, the delegation showed interest in the long-awaited desalination project proposed for Swakopmund, a cement factory and agriculture as well as waste management. According to Mr Yaakov Adir, director of projects and investments in Africa, the Lev Leviev group, which recently established the Samicor diamond company with US $ 48 investment million in Namibia, a jewellery factory will follow, providing 500 jobs. It would be the largest jewellery plant in Africa, Adir said. The delegations met various Cabinet ministers and gave a presentation to the business community in Windhoek, before visiting Swakopmund and Walvis Bay on Thursday.

Telecom Namibia Ltd entered into a multi-million joint venture with Mundo Startel, an Angolan company, last week after 10 months of intense negotiations. Mundo Startel is the holder of a fixed line telecommunication license in Angola. The Shareholders’ Agreement concluded makes provision for a Telecom Namibia Ltd shareholding of 44 %, worth about N$ 90 million, with the remaining 56 % equity to the Angolan partners. The operating company, Mundo Startel’s headquarters will be situated in Luanda. It will be governed by a board of directors consisting of 4 directors from the Angolan side and 3 directors from Telecom Namibia. The company will develop wireless digital technologies in Angola such the latest VSAT.

Following the decision by South African Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee last week to leave the repo rate unchanged, the Bank of Namibia also holds a neutral position on the monetary policy stance. The current bank rate will remain unchanged at 7.75 %. According to the BoN this will help to consolidate growth prospects in the domestic economy and keep inflationary pressures in checks. Namibia’s inflation continued to decline during the last quarter of 2003 and in November it recorded 3.6 %. Behind the low rate of inflation are the food price indices that had declined tremendously, reaching a negative inflation rate of 1.4 per cent by the month of December 2003. Non-food inflation also reflected a significant easing, reaching 1.1 % in December 2003; and contributed to the slowdown in the overall inflation rate of the country. However, overall inflation in January 2004 surged slightly to 2.4 % from 2.1 % in December 2003. The strengthening of the domestic currency has been the main factor responsible for the low inflation, while lower food prices also contributed to the same. Although the Namibia dollar came under pressure in January 2004, the currency on its own is not expected to be inflationary in nature, unless combined with higher international oil prices and the anticipated higher food prices.

The Bank of Namibia is withdrawing existing N$20 notes in circulation to replace them with new ones. Members of the general public and the business community are urged to part with the N$20 banknotes in normal course of business transactions or deposit or exchange the notes at commercial banks.

The N$20 banknote is still legal tender, but the public is advised to part with the note to ensure that the defect notes are replaced in the shortest possible period of time. Last year the BoN alerted Namibians about a production defect in the N$20 banknote in circulation. One design feature of the banknote – the magnetic thread – has tended to loosen from the paper over time. The manufacturer of the notes assumed responsibility for the defect and undertook to replace the notes. All 20 million pieces of these notes have been replaced at the manufacturer’s cost.] Commercial banks in the country are not to issue existing N$20 banknotes until 10 March 2004 to the public and the business community. All automatic teller machines (ATMs) will not dispense N$20 notes for this period.

A Namibian wind parks fact-finding mission undertaken by Mr Erhard Seiler of the German Chamber of Commerce and Mr Stefan Neuwirth of the company WinPro was facilitated by the Namibian Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Bureau of Namibia (R3E). The Bureau took the delegation on a tour of possible wind park sites in Lüderitz and Walvis Bay and arranged several meetings between the delegation and Namibian stakeholders, in most cases accompanying the delegation to these meetings.

The delegation was positive about the possibility of erecting a wind park in Namibia and has indicated that they wish to further investigate the matter.

The German delegation’s visit took place last week. Due to tight time constraints and plans changing on short notice, many meetings could only be arranged on relatively short notice. A wind park of 10 or even 20 mega watt (MW) has been in the pipeline for several years without concrete results.