Cabinet gives go-ahead for national automotive policy
CABINET last week approved the automotive production and development policy on the development of the automotive assembly sector in Namibia.
Deputy communications minister Emma Theofelus last week Thursday stated that Cabinet directed the trade and finance ministries and other relevant agencies such as the Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA) to commence the implementation of these policy provisions. Earlier this year, during a discussion on the framework of the National Automotive Assembly Development Policy (NAADP) 2019-2021, trade minister Lucia Iipumbu said the government recognised the importance of developing a fully-fledged automotive assembly industry to help boost the local economy.
The development aims to optimise contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP), employment creation, technology transfer, value addition, fostering of backward and forward linkages, and the immersion of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
The NAADP framework (2019- 2021) is designed as a measure to provide adequate transitory policy provisions in terms of promoting and sustaining investment in local assembly and component manufacturing.
The domestic vehicle market was severely affected in 2020 by the global pandemic, which significantly impacted sales. In fact, full year 2020 sales were a mere 7 614, down 26.8% compared to 2019.
Brand-wise, during the year under review, Toyota (-23.5%) continued to hold a dominant market share (44.3%), followed by Volkswagen (-25.9%) that holds a 14.7% share. Nissan (-28.6%) was in the third position and holds an 11% market share.