BoN: ‘Get green energy policies right’

Through appropriate management and allocation of oil, gas, and green hydrogen revenues, Namibia can promote economic diversification and thus build the basis for higher and stable growth, the governor of the Bank of Namibia (BoN), Johannes !Gawaxab says.

!Gawaxab this morning opened the BoN’s annual symposium. The theme is maximising economic growth from renewable and non-renewable energy sources in Namibia.

According to the governor, the critical challenge for Namibia is to harness the oil, gas and green hydrogen resources by making the right strategic choices and synchronising their implementation in a context that improves the lives of the poor through increased investment in health, education, physical infrastructure, and other non-oil sectors.

“However, this will only be possible if the government approaches the oil and gas sector and the green hydrogen initiatives in a national, rational and strategic manner.

“We are fully aware that these sectors cannot only bring significant financial resources and enormous transformational opportunities but also come with challenges. There are many examples around the world where developing countries have obtained windfalls from oil and gas but eventually ended up poorer than before.

“We must learn from the experiences of others,” !Gawaxab said.

Commenting on this year theme of the annual symposium, he said the BoN felt the need to get ahead of Namibia’s recent discoveries - oil and gas discoveries and green hydrogen initiatives - so that the country can get the policy issues right from the onset.

“My hope for this symposium is that we can contribute to the crafting of policies and recommendations that will allow the country to exploit the benefits of renewable and non-renewable energy and review possible options for the country to ensure appropriate equitable participation of Namibians in these opportunities, now and beyond,” he said.