NAMIBIANS are borrowing much less than other nations in the Common Monetary Area (CMA), the Bank of Namibia says.
The CMA includes Lesotho, South Africa, Namibia and Eswatini.
Despite Namibians owing close to N$130 billion, they remain among the lowest borrowers as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP).
N$7.5 billion is owed to registered cash loans and N$118 billion is owed to banks in the country.
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According to the central bank's financial stability report within the CMA, Namibia continues to exhibit relatively low household indebtedness.
"Household debt as a percentage of GDP stood at 30.7%, making it the second lowest in the region after Lesotho, which recorded a ratio of 17.2% in 2024," the BoN says.
This means Namibians only borrowed 30% of the total economic value of the country.
The bank says the stability in Namibia's household debt ratios suggests a contained level of taking on excessive debt.
"However, continued monitoring remains important, particularly in the context of subdued income growth and the composition of credit, which may still pose risks to household balance sheets," the BoN says.
As of last October, a quarterly report by the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (Namfisa) showed that Entrepo Finance and Letshego Micro Financial Services each hold 28.4% of Namibia's N$7.8-billion microlending industry, dominating a market shared by 949 lenders.
The two companies had issued loans worth N$4.4 billion (N$2.2 billion each), leaving N$3.8 billion to be shared among other registered microlenders.
The third-largest microlender is Old Mutual Finance, which controls 18.9% (N$1.4 billion) of the industry.
"Collectively, Entrepo Finance, Letshego Micro Financial Services (Namibia), and Old Mutual Finance (term) controlled 75.7% of the industry's total loans," Namfisa chief executive Kenneth Matomola says.
The CMA was established to facilitate economic integration.
These countries share a common monetary policy and allow for the free flow of funds, with the South African rand acting as the anchor currency throughout the region.
