The Institute for Public Policy Research in Windhoek will on Friday release its latest research report on the diamond industry. Called: "Managing Diamond Dependency - Should Namibia risk more to gain more?" the report compares Namibia’s diamond industry with that of six other major diamond producing countries: Angola, Australia, Botswana, Canada, Russia and South Africa. Based on analysis the IPPR said its research came up with 18 different options Namibian policy-makers should consider in their efforts to maximise benefits to the overall economy from the country’s rich diamond resource. The study comes at an optimal time because the Namibian government and De Beers, as joint owners of NamDeb, will negotiate the terms of another 5-year agreement, which is to be sealed early next year. Both partners have a 50% stake in Namdeb. Martin Boer, a visiting researcher, and Robin Sherbourne, director of IPPR, wrote the study after conducting six months of research into the global diamond industry. The report was partly funded by the Ministry of Mines and Energy. Samicor, a new Namibian company of the Israeli Lev Leviev Group has also recently taken over Namco and built a diamond and gemstone polishing factory in Windhoek’s Northern Industrial area, the largest polishing factory in all of Africa. It will eventually employ 500 people. Only a few months back US diamantaire Maurice Tempelsman through his company Lazare Kaplan, bought into NamGem, the troubled subsidiary of Namdeb, a small diamond polishing plant in Okahandja. The IPPR report is also available at www.ippr.org.na

Last Thursday saw the launch of the Development Bank of Namibia, which is headed by Mr David Nujoma. The bank will challenge the country’s financial services sector to more pro-active levels of engagement in national economic progress. The new institution could not be the bank taking all the risks other banks will not take, said Eduard Hoffmann, a German legal and economic consultant who has been working with the DBN’s core team to map out its initial strategies and operations. Hoffmann noted, Namibia remained an exporter of capital, funds packaged for transmission to boost economies elsewhere. The DBN will complement and build on Namibia’s existing financial services and inject fiscal dynamism into national development.

Its initial emphasis will be on medium and long-term financing instruments to further expand infrastructural and targeted sectoral development like agro-industry, fishing, manufacturing, mining, services and tourism.

An additional focus will be on workable solutions to advance the small and

medium enterprise sector (SME’s).The bank has already forged partnerships with SADC-DFI network, the Development Bank

of Southern Africa, South Africa’s Industrial Development

Corporation and Khula Enterprise Finance.