Namibia's economy to shrink again in 2019 - finance minister

Namibia's economy is set to shrink by 1.5% in 2019 after contracting 0.1% in the previous year as a broad slowdown triggered by severe drought, weak investment and falling consumer demand deepen, Finance Minister Calle Schlettwein said on Tuesday.

The economy would gradually recover to expand by around 0.8% in 2020 and 1.3% by 2021, the finance minister said in his mid-term budget review speech ahead of an election next month, adding gross debt was seen remaining steady at just under 50% of gross domestic product.