Markets
No room for interest rates change
- Markets
- Published Date
- Nyasha Francis Nyaungwa
- Hits: 104
The Bank of Namibia has ruled out a change in interest rates as long as inflation remains low and South African monetary authorities maintain the current interest rate regime.
Speaking to the Economist, Central Bank Governor Ipumbu Shiimi said any adjustment in interest rates will depend on the three variables of inflation, economic growth and Namibia’s biggest trading partner.
Shiimi said before a decision is taken to increase interest rates, the monetary policy committee will have to see “Inflation running away very significantly above double digit levels for a consistent period.” Adding that the bank will also have to consider what impact inflation above 9% will have on economic growth.
The central bank chief further said the bank will have to keep one eye on the activities of “our biggest trading partner, South Africa because interest rates have to be more or less the same.” He argued that any significant interest rate divergence with South Africa might result in capital flight to that country as Namibia becomes less attractive.
Pre-paid electricity now by FNB internet banking
- Markets
- Published Date
- Waldo
- Hits: 111
First National Bank (FNB) recently announced that as of March it is possible for FNB customers to purchase pre-paid electricity from CenoRED and Erongo RED by using FNB Namibia Cellphone banking, Online banking and ATM’s.
Desery Van Wyk, Manager Cellphone Banking advised that feedback from clients at the coast and North has been positive and they have thanked FNB for making this possible.
FNB has responded to the inconvenience of finding an open vendor, transforming what used to be a public transaction into a private purchase which the customer can effect in the safety of his or her own home. Using internet banking for pre-paid will also eliminate the opportunity for crooked vendor to exploit the system, an event which lead to the breakdown of pre-paid vending last year.
First-time house buyers getting older
- Markets
- Published Date
- Waldo
- Hits: 89
The backlog in housing has lead to run-away house prices as the Minister of Finance so succinctly put it in her budget speech, but for estate agents and developers, as well as the financing institutions behind these deals, it has created endless acreage of fertile soil.
Last week, FNB Namibia’s Realtor Club awarded their top estate agents, agencies and developers and expressed their gratitude for their on-going business at a plush award ceremony.
In his address Ian Leyenaar, CEO of FNB Namibia concentrated on the serious topic of the housing shortage and said the largest backlog of housing is in the lowest income brackets, with maximum monthly incomes up to N$1500 (estimated at 45,000 houses), and incomes between N$1,500 and N$ 4,600 (estimated at 30,000).
“While the Build Together programme focuses on people with incomes under N$3,000 per month, the National Housing Enterprise only provides products for incomes of over N$5,000 a month, which is less than 13% of the population,” he said.
Development Bank against defaulters
- Markets
- Published Date
- Nyasha Francis Nyaungwa
- Hits: 87
The Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) has set up a special unit to help contain increasing non-performing loans.
Quarterly results released by the bank on Tuesday showed that its loan book stood at N$1.364 billion at the end of March 2013 against a target of N$1.440 billion while the impairment ratio showed a 2.2% increase from the previous quarter to 7.6%.
The increase in impairments means the bank is now above the 7% benchmark of the Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADFI). Last year, the bank estimated the impairment ratio to peak at around 6% before stabilising this year.
DBN said that the Workout and Recoveries Unit was set up as a result of the growth in the bank’s loan book and to assist customers in distress with financial advice on how to overcome their cash flow challenges. This responsibility was previously with the Lending Department.
The bank is hopeful that the setting up of the new unit, responsible for monitoring all the loan arrears on a daily basis from day one when an account falls into arrears, will free up lending personnel to concentrate on the growth of the loan book.
Fast network @ Omeya Estate
- Markets
- Published Date
- Waldo
- Hits: 86
Telecom this week announced its plans to build a fibre-based, mobile and wireless telecommunication network at Omeya Golf Estate 30km south of Windhoek. Telecom said it will build a WiFi network to ensure wireless coverage throughout the estate and roll out fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) which uses optical cables to deliver ultra-fast broadband and telephony service with network interface speeds of more than 100Mbps.
The telecommunication utility through its cellular company Leo, will also build a 3G mobile base station at Omeya, which will be complemented with 4G towards the end of this year. Once complete, the network will offer voice, IP, data, internet, telecommunication services and value added services (VAS) to residents at the Greenfield development.
The combination of FTTH, WiFi and mobile network will give seamless access to all Omeya residents and visitors.
“Although the initial goal is to provide basic WiFi Internet access, we are actually building a high-speed fibre-to-the-home network that will be delivering even more services and applications in the future,” said Telecom Namibia’s Chief Commercial Officer Heiko Trost.
