რუსთავი , ქვემო ქართ საქართველო ამინდის პროგნოზი

Happy Israel Independence Day!

Polska od 19 kwietnia pozwoli na wznowienie pracy przedszkoli i placówek przedszkolnych

Ze względu na wysokie wskaźniki infekcji polski rząd podjął decyzję o przedłużeniu obecnych ograniczeń dotyczących koronawirusa o tydzień, do 25 kwietnia.

Ograniczenia dotyczące hoteli zostały przedłużone do 3 maja.

W tym samym czasie dzieci będą wracać do żłobków i przedszkoli już od najbliższego poniedziałku.

W szkołach edukacja będzie nadal prowadzona zdalnie.

Ponadto rząd zezwolił na uprawianie sportów na świeżym powietrzu w grupach do 25 osób.

Geingob's State of the Nation Address

President Hage Geingob during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on 15 April 2021 said the Namibian government's fiscal and policy focus is geared towards wealth redistribution to secure a sustainable future for every Namibian.

Geingob has unveiled his second Harambee Prosperity Plan (HPP II) on 18 March, which is said to contain key components for economic recovery after countrywide consultations.

He said Government will lead the economic recovery by pursuing three key goals.

The first is updating of the national fixed asset register, the completion of the State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) reform process, and the implementation and seeding of a Sovereign Wealth Fund.

Secondly is an economic advancement pillar that requires improving the productive yield of identified assets, including green schemes and the Neckertal Dam.

Geingob said the public-private-partnership framework of 2017 will be a key instrument to prepare projects in excess of N$27 billion over the HPP II period, which has the ambition to create more than 42'000 jobs.

“Namibia is uniquely endowed to attract significant investment in the green and blue economy, naturally driven by our marine and renewable energy resources,” Geingob said.

INVESTMENT PROJECTS

Geingob has established the Namibian Investment Promotion and Development Board in his presidency. Its main focus is to court and retain local and international investors.

This function was formerly embedded within the Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade, and SME Development.

Geingob said this board since January has already compiled a portfolio of more than 100 investment projects

The southern coastal town of Lüderitz has been identified to produce clean energy and fuels required by global investors, Geingob said.

HPP II will therefore explore the production of green hydrogen and ammonia as a strategic bet.

Namibia has so far received six written offers from prospective developers to locally manufacture these clean fuels. The interest comes from local companies, as well as Australia, Belgium, and The Netherlands.

The possible capital expected to be deployed into these projects ranges from N$32 billion to N$150 billion, with the possible number of jobs exceeding 20'000 to be generated.

To expedite these opportunities, Geingob said he will constitute a Green Hydrogen Council that will regularly report progress towards a final investment decision to his office.

Another project identified is the Kelp Blue project that aspires to cultivate a 70'000-hectare forest of underwater seaweed off the coast of Lüderitz to be exported to international markets.

Geingob said this project is identified by the World Economic Forum as one of its top 11 innovations protecting life below and above the oceans.

This project, he said, has the potential to attract N$5 billion and creating 400 jobs.

BROADENING, STRENGTHENING GOVERNMENT

The Namibia Revenue Authority was launched on 7 April 2021 with a stronger mandate to broaden the tax base.

A Performance Delivery Unit was also established to track, cost, implement, and timeously report on implementation, monitoring, and evaluation functions of government.

To protect jobs, Geingob has further established a Business Rescue Task Force with a mandate to review insolvency legislation and infuse the concept of business rescue into the legal frameworks with a view to mitigate the number of firms that face liquidation during the Covid-19 pandemic. This task force will be commissioned during May and must complete its mandate by the end of October.

Geingob said to further strengthen employment creation, a plethora of funding instruments currently under the SME Funding Strategy at the Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) will be consolidated into a National MSME Fund to deliver a blended funding to entrepreneurial start-ups and SMEs.

In the coming weeks a fourth Industrial Revolution Task Force will be set up to conduct a 4IR country assessment to ascertain the readiness of Namibia's labour force and related infrastructure to fully harness these technologies.

COVID-19

Namibia has so far been able to avoid a third wave of Covid-19 infections. The death rate due to Covid-19 infections is just under 600, with the cumulative rate of infections just below 50'000.

Infection rates have, however, increased since December 2020 amongst 40% of learners, and 6% among teachers and healthcare workers.

According to Our World Data Namibia has the third highest testing ratio of 135 people tested per 1'000 population.

Through the COVAX facility Namibia expects an initial consignment of 24'000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine during April.

So far, it has rolled out donated 100'000 doses of China's Sinopharm, and 30'000 of India's COVISHIELD.

SOCIAL PROGRESSION

Geingob said 50% of the 2021/22 national budget is allocated to social sectors like health, education, skills training, and social welfare, sectors that fundamentally cater for young people.

He said social programmes have averted starvation for many Namibian families at risk. Government annually sustains on average one million – out of a population of under 2.5 million.

During the 2020/21 financial year, the government has spent N$6 million on social grants. These include among others old age social grants (N$3 million); food bank (N$70 million); disability (N$546 million); liberation war veterans (N$766 million); marginalised (N$45 million); funeral benefits (N$45 million); orphans and vulnerable children (N$1.05 billion); and school feeding programmes (N$73 million).

A total of 746 loans through Agribank have also been extended to farmers. Agribank has similarly given 116 non-collateralised loans totalling N$15.6 million to women and youth in the agricultural sector.

MODIFIED BASIC INCOME GRANT

Geingob further announced the introduction of a 'modified basic income grant', which will be a consolidation of the food bank, the marginalisation grant, and the school feeding scheme.

INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS

Namibia has experienced a mushrooming of informal settlements since Independence in 1990. Now, approximately 230'000 households live in shacks countrywide.

Geingob said the government has committed to deliver 20'000 housing opportunities and 24'000 serviced erven across the country during the HPP II period.

It has undertaken to formalise and upgrade five existing informal settlements by rolling out a flexible land tenure system.

Government will also operationalise a rent control board to undertake regulatory measures while reviewing its national housing policy to introduce a mixed development and improve affordability of urban land by reducing the size of the standard pavilion from the current 300 square metres to a more affordable size.

INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

ENERGY

It is expected that the adoption of the National Integrated Resource Plan will broaden the energy mix to include solar, wind, gas, and diesel.

Installed generation capacity was increased with 400 Megawatts in 2016 to over 624 Megawatts by 2020.

During the HPP II period, 50 Megawatts independent power producer projects and an additional 220 Megawatts generation capacity by NamPower will be commissioned.

75% of urban areas, 19% in rural areas, and 45% nationally are electrified.

The National Electricity Master Plan will be finalised during HPP II to address the rural electrification model.

ROADS

Namibia's road network is considered to be one of the best in Africa. Its 44'500 kilometre road network was expanded with an additional 819 kilometres of bitumen standard road and 373 kilometres of gravel roads.

During the HPP II period, 1'480 kilometres will be upgraded.

RAIL

The Walvis Bay-Kranzberg-Tsumeb-Oshikango railway network is being upgraded to double the volume of cargo.

Additionally, rehabilitation of the Tsumeb-Kranzberg-Walvis Bay railway network is ongoing.

GAS, OIL

Geingob said Namibia remains an attractive destination for investments in oil and gas. This, he said, is evidenced by the current three onshore wells being drilled by Canadian company Renaissance Energy in blocks 1819 and 1820 in the Kavango East and Kavango West regions.

NEW PROJECTS

Going forward, Geingob said, under HPP II, infrastructure projects will focus on primarily unlocking the optimal use of the public-private-partnership framework and deployment of catalytic funding through blended financing instruments.

The government is to champion the use of project bonds, sustainability bonds, and other project financing tools to make this possible, he said.

New projects include:

• the Erongo desalination plant for water supply security to primarily the mining sector in that region;
• national green schemes, including the Neckertal Dam scheme;
• the Walvis Bay container terminal completed under the HPP I period and now subject to much interest from global and local investors;
• the exploration of plans to build a new deep-water port at Angra Point off the coast of Lüderitz to export the green hydrogen and ammonia.