According to the Institute for Public Policy Research, there is an absence of programs aimed at enhancing Namibia's investment climate.
This is despite private sector investment outweighing public sector investment.
Economist Robin Sherbourne says "virtually no space is devoted to improving Namibia's business and investment environment".
Sherbourne was commenting on some of the main commitments contained in the Swapo Manifesto Implementation Plan.
Sherbourne states that there was no reference made or modification to any detrimental laws or rules that hinder private investments.
"Besides the Investment Promotion and Facilitation Bill 2021 (which could potentially severely undermine private sector investments), this significant concern remains unaddressed," according to an analysis.
He says some of the legislation not mentioned are the Namibian national equitable economic empowerment bill and the draft Minerals Act, which both have the potential to hinder private sector investment.
As Sherbourne points out, investments from the private sector significantly surpass those from the public sector, and typically, it is the private sector that drives economic expansion and job generation.
In 2022, Namibia topped the list for Africa’s best-performing countries in attracting foreign direct investments (FDI) when adjusted for economic size.
This was according to the Greenfield FDI Performance Index.
Namibia's fourth National Development Plan (NDP4), which ran from 2012 to 2017, stated that Namibia should be the most competitive economy in the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) region by 2017.
According to the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Index, Namibia was the fourth most competitive economy in Sadc in 2017, one place higher than it had been at the start of the NDP4 period in 2012
The World Economic Forum’s yearly Global Competitiveness Report evaluates elements fostering productivity and prosperity across 140 nations. In the 2018 ranking, Namibia dropped one position, moving from 99th to 100th place globally.
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