Shiimi: SOEs no sacred cow

Jo-Maré Duddy – No state-owned enterprise (SOE) in Namibia is a sacred cow, finance minister IIpumbu Shiimi says.Speaking off the cuff at an event on Friday unpacking the recently tabled Mid-year Budget Review, Shiimi said: “Public enterprise sector reform is very key and urgent and all of us know that.”However, he preferred to refrain from discussing Air Namibia at the event - hosted by Namibia Media Holdings (NMH), PwC Namibia, Standard Bank Namibia and Liberty – as “the issue is in court now”.The beleaguered national carrier is facing an urgent liquidation application in the High Court again on 1 December. The matter was postponed twice last week. The application, brought by Belgian liquidator Anicet Baum, pertains to millions of euro owed to Challenge Air SA.Shiimi on Friday said government is spending an “awful amount of money” on public enterprises and is looking at a “broad spectrum of things” including finding “a better way of either restructuring or privatising” SOEs. Air Namibia is “definitely in that pot” and is among those public entities being assessed, he said.Shiimi said public enterprise minister Leon Jooste is currently working on an ownership policy or strategy which will be finished before the end of the current fiscal year, which ends next March.It will be presented to cabinet to “make a decision on what to keep and what to repurpose, what to chop and dice”, Shiimi said.WAGE BILLPublic sector reform is one of the few areas left to government to cut spending and continue on its consolidation path, the minister indicated. The other one is the civil servant wage bill – a complex issue, he said.“Maybe we need to start small” in this regard, Shiimi said.Currently there are about 11 200 people in the civil service who will reach retirement age within the next five years, he said. If “30% of those are willing to go [on early retirement], then you are going to save some money”.“If we don’t need all of them, can we find a way of incentivising people to leave before the age of 60? These are all questions we are asking ourselves and this is really the start of the conversation,” Shiimi said.Namibia’s economy can only be revived if public finances are stable, he said.“Nobody will want to invest in an economy where there is macro instability. And stability of fiscal finances is key to macro stability and therefore to growth. It’s not enough, but it is key,” Shiimi said.REGULAR CONVERSATIONSIf there was ever a time to have regular conversations on how to tackle economic challenges in Namibia, it is now, he said. These challenges include the lack of economic growth, government’s finances and inequality.“This is the time where we have to figure out together,” Shiimi said.He added: “We can only deal with these challenges if we are all working together as Namibians. We can only thrive, survive in this space Namibia if we work together. The time has come that we should pointing fingers at each other and really work together.”

Shiimi: SOEs no sacred cow

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Republikein 2025-04-04

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Shiimi: SOEs no sacred cow

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