the namibian business and investment climate (nambic ... · compared to 52% of all namibian...

13.08.2013 Seite 1

The Namibian Business and Investment

Climate (namBIC) Survey 2013

Some highlights of the Hardap and !Karas

regions

Presented by

Klaus Schade (IPPR)

Institute for Public

Policy Research

13.08.2013 Seite 2

Survey background

namBIC 2013…

Fourth consecutive annual survey capturing perceptions of business

people in Namibia concerning the business and investment climate.

Nation-wide survey covering all economic sectors and regions.

Substantially higher response rate allowed for regional analysis of most

questions.

Interviews of 200 informal (face-to-face) and 463 formal businesses

during October 2012 (telephonically) out of a sample of 800 formal

businesses. Hardap and !Karas: 50 responses out of sample of 68

formal businesses (74%).

Guided by a Steering Committee consisting of NCCI, NMA, IPPR and

GIZ, and funded by GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for

Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Questionnaire design and data analysis carried out by the Institute for

Public Policy Research (IPPR).

Survey conducted by Business Intelligence Africa.

13 August 2013

2

13.08.2013 Seite 3

Results – Economic condition

General economic conditions

Businesses in !Karas more optimistic

than in Namibia at large and in Hardap.

Contrary to global economic prospects,

Namibian businesses in general rated

the business conditions in 2012 more

positively than in 2011 and are even

upbeat about prospects for 2013.

Overall rating influenced by size with

large and medium businesses more

optimistic than small and micro

enterprises.

13 August 2013

3

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5

Namibia

Hardap

!Karas

economic conditions expected for 2013 economic conditions in 2012

13.08.2013 Seite 4

Results – Investment

Investment decisions

Positive mood not resulting in

investment: Businesses in the South

less likely to invest than companies in

Namibia on average.

48% of companies in the south

indicated that they did not invest in 2012.

compared to 52% of all Namibian

companies.

Outlook rather bleak for 2013 since

companies in general intend to invest

less than average during 2013, with

businesses in Hardap and !Karas being

more cautious than Namibian

businesses on average.

Very little investment into Research &

Development.

4

13 August 2013

-1.0 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0.0

Namibia

Hardap

!Karas

Replacement Expansion

13.08.2013 Seite 5

Results – Labour market

Employment decisions

Stronger demand for labour in the south

with 56% of businesses having increased

workforce in 2012.

Businesses in the south do not intend to

reduce their workforce, but are also less

inclined to add labour during 2013.

About 38% of all Namibian firms intend to

employ more staff in 2013, while 2%

expect to lay off workers.

Labour relations are rated as being good

in Namibia (rating of 0.7). Businesspeople in

the south (0.86) rate the relationship even

better than the national average.

5

13 August 2013

0 10 20 30 40

Namibia

Hardap

!Karas

Reduce Increase

13.08.2013 Seite 6

Results - Obstacles

Obstacles to business growth

Overwhelming agreement amongst

Namibian business people concerning the

most severe obstacles to business

development.

Access to and cost of finance, access

to land and cost of utilities are the top

three factors for all types of businesses.

Demand for products and services and

crime and theft follow on places four and

five.

Ranking of first three factors not

different in the south, except that

demand for products replaces cost of

utilities as third factor in Hardap.

Furthermore, distance to markets and

labour market regulations play a stronger

role in !Karas (rank 4 and 5).

6

13 August 2013

13.08.2013 Seite 7

Regulatory business

environment

Ease of registration viewed as more

challenging than in previous years but

remains on the positive side. Businesses

in the south provide more favourable

rating than the national average.

Cost of registration not regarded as an

obstacle.

Business people from the south slightly

more critical about costs and required

documents.

7 Results - Regulations

13 August 2013

-0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4

Namibia

Hardap

!Karas

Cost of registration Time and complexity Ease of registration

Easy

13.08.2013 Seite 8

Corruption, crime, enforcement of contracts & property

rights

8

Companies in the south regard the

control of crime and enforcement of

contracts as satisfactory.

Corruption not perceived as a

problem in Namibia in general and

neither in the south although average

rating slightly below last year (1.27

compared to 1.64).

Crime regarded slightly more

challenging by respondents in general

since the rating dropped from +0.13 to -

0.12.

Enforcement of contracts and

property rights also rated slightly

more difficult in Namibia on average

than last year.

Results – Corruption, crime…

13 August 2013

-0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4

Namibia

Hardap

!Karas

Perception of corruption Perception of crime Enforcement of contracts

No problem

13.08.2013 Seite 9

Taxes

Only 16% of all respondents indicated

that they do not pay taxes.

Business people from Hardap and

!Karas less critical about tax issues

than national average, except for the

handling of tax returns in the Hardap

region.

Handling of tax returns by RoR rated

as neutral (neither difficult nor easy) in

Namibia in general and in the south.

Ease of paying taxes received a

slightly positive rating in the south,

contrary to the rest of Namibia

indicating it could be made easier.

Tax rates are overwhelmingly

considered as being too high in

Namibia (rating of -1.31) and the South.

9 Results – Taxes

13 August 2013

-1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5

Namibia

Hardap

!Karas

Level of tax rates Ease of paying taxes Satisfaction tax returns

High / difficult No problem

13.08.2013 Seite 10

Cross-border trade

Business people from the South view

border procedures slightly less

critical (rating of -0.6 and -0.3) than

business people from other regions.

Rating by all respondents of

procedures on the Namibian side of

the border dropped dramatically

from +0.7 to -0.7.

All respondents rated on average

procedures on Namibian side worse

than the foreign side of the border

(-0.7 vs. -0.5).

10 Results – Cross-border trade…

13 August 2013

-1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0

Namibia 2012

Namibia 2013

North Central

North East

South

Procedures at Foreign border posts

Procedures at Namibian border posts

Difficult Not difficult

13.08.2013 Seite 11

Access to Land

Demand for land dropped from 45%

of all respondents in Namibia to 32%.

Serviced land most in demand

(26% of all respondents), but only by

about 15% in the south.

Access to serviced land (-0.9) rated

more challenging than access to un-

serviced land (-0.3) in Namibia at

large.

Cost of land identified as main

obstacle in Namibia in obtaining land

followed by bureaucratic procedures

and availability.

11 Results – Access to Land

13 August 2013

-1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0

Namibia

North Central

North East

South

Obtain un-serviced land Obtain serviced land

Very difficult Neutral

13.08.2013 Seite 12

Finance

Access to and cost of finance is of

most concern to the private sector.

Cost of finance is viewed as major

obstacle, but slightly less challenging in

the South than in the rest of Namibia.

The same can be observed for access to

credit.

Provision of collateral not regarded as

an issues in the South, while rated

slightly negative in Namibia at large.

12 Results - Finances

13 August 2013

-1.50 -1.25 -1.00 -0.75 -0.50 -0.25 0.00 0.25

Namibia

Hardap

!Karas

Providing collateral Cost of credit Access to credit

very difficult neutral

13.08.2013 Seite 13

Public / Private Dialogue

Some public/private meetings were

organised by NCCI and LEDA in the south

and north of the country.

Only minority of respondents across

Namibia are aware of these meetings

(20% compared to 43% a year earlier).

However, 75% of those who knew about

meetings attended these.

Slight improvement in satisfaction with

these meetings (rating up from +0.60 to

+0.75) in Namibia at large.

Respondents, in particular from large

companies, not impressed by the way

concerns were addressed after the

meetings (rating of -0.56).

Results–Public/Private Dialogue 13

13 August 2013

-0.6 -0.1 0.4 0.9 1.4

All-2012

All-2013

Micro

Small

Medium

Large

Concerns addressed Satisfaction with meetings

Not satisfied Satisfied

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Recommendation namBIC2013

Regular public-private sector meetings

Increase efforts to attract the targeted audience

Increase frequency of meetings

Provide proper feedback on plan of action

Establish high level Business Council chaired by Prime Minister

Identify and address cross-border issues

Conduct in-depth study in order to implement efficient procedures

Address availability of serviced land

Provide transparent and simple information of existing financing

programmes, requirements and costs (DBN, Fides and SME Bank

and commercial banks)

Strengthen linkages between SMEs and large businesses and

address supply side issues

14

13 August 2013

13.08.2013 Seite 15 13 August 2013

15 Sponsorship

Be among the first to become a namBIC Sponsor…

Gold Sponsor

Silver Sponsor

… and find your logo and/or name prominently on all

publications, namBIC Public-Private Dialogues, media

announcements etc.

Bronze Sponsor

13.08.2013 Seite 16

Thank you very much!

Download the full report and the summary at:

www.ncci.org.na

www.nmanamibia.com

www.ippr.org.na

or contact for hard copies:

[email protected]

[email protected]

Institute for

Public

Policy Research

http://www.ncci.org.na/

http://www.nmanamibia.com/

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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