Da'oud Vries
12 September 2008
PRIME Minister Nahas Angula has called on insurance companies and asset management to stop using Namibia as a "milk cow" and invest Namibian savings in the country, instead of exporting them.
Angula was speaking at the launch on Wednesday of yet another insurance company Liberty Life in which Standard Bank is a controlling shareholder.
He said that while Namibia is a net exporter of capital there is a shortage of investment capital in the country.
"Namibia is searching for investment capital for projects such as Kudu Gas, Baines Hydro Power Scheme, the agricultural Green Scheme, railway rehabilitation and many others," he pointed out.
While there is an acute shortage of investment capital in the country, "pension funds and other contractual savings are exported out of the country and invested elsewhere", Angula said.
He called on financial institutions to change this "paradox".
"Capital generated in Namibia should be invested in Namibia in order to generate more capital," he said.
Challenging Liberty Life, he said Namibian funds invested locally will grow the economy, create new jobs and industries.
The Namibian Government has for years been encouraging insurance companies to invest Namibian savings locally, but without much success.
Pensions funds are required by law to invest 35 per cent of their portfolio in Namibia and with the latest change to the Long Term Insurance Act to invest 5 per cent in unlisted companies by 2011.
Angula further accused financial intermediaries of reaping "comfortable profits" while pension fund members "earn modestly on their capital".
He cited members of Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF), the largest fund in the country, who according to him do not receive a fair return on their investment.
"Its (GIPF) benefits seem not to trickle down to pensioners."
He called on pension funds to share the growth of the fund with their members adding: "The challenge is to create a win-win situation."
"Since Liberty Life claims to offer a number of corporate relationship advantage to its clients, I trust the new player may choose to be the real [trailblazer] in corporate fair play."
He called on companies operating in Namibia to create an economically and a socially just society.
Angula expressed the hope that Liberty Life would "embrace empowerment of previously disadvantaged Namibians".
Liberty Life's initial products will target corporates and Government will extend these government offerings in the near future to property, healthcare and general insurance products, including short-term insurance.
Liberty Life Namibia has not only opened an office in Windhoek, but has relocated its Southern African Regional Office to Windhoek.
The regional office will serve Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland.
"The geo-strategic location of this regional hub of excellence will serve the wealth management expansion drive into the rest of southern Africa (Angola, Zambia and Democratic Republic of Congo) well into the future," Liberty Life said in a statement.
The regional office will headed by a Namibian national, Jerome Mouton.
Espousing Liberty Life's corporate vision, Mouton said, the company offers a number of advantages "both in our corporate relationships and in the way we do business - that make us an ideal partner - in the wealth space in Africa and Namibia".
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