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Namibian economy to grow 5.6 pct in 2015: central bank

Xinhua, February 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

Bank of Namibia governor Ipumbu Shiimi said Wednesday that real GDP growth is estimated at 5.6 percent in 2015 compared to the estimated 5.3 percent growth in 2014.

Shiimi told reporters that growth is expected to be driven mostly by construction activities, particularly in the mining sector.

He however cautioned that the looming drought, weak growth in economies of some of Namibia's major trading partners, particularly in the Euro Zone area, and depressed commodity prices posed risks to growth.

He said depressed commodity prices could negatively affect export earnings, mining sector profits and employment.

"At the moment we stand firm behind that figure," Shiimi said in an interview.

"There are those risks that I talked about, drought is one of those things, and commodity prices could weaken further," the official said.

The Namibian economy relies heavily on the extraction and processing of minerals for export. The mining sector accounts for 11.5 percent of GDP and more than 50 percent of foreign exchange earnings. Endi