‘Milder’ recession in first quarter

Namibia’s economy grew by -0.8% in the first quarter of 2020, a better performance than the -3.3% recorded in the same three months last year.
The first quarter, which ended on 31 March, only includes a few days of the lockdown and therefore doesn’t reflect the impact of the lockdown and the first two phases of the state of emergency.
Figures released by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) this morning shows wholesale and retail, the heavyweight of the economy, grew by -0.5% in the past quarter.
Other sectors performed as follow: Agriculture and forestry (-13%), mining (-3.3%) and manufacturing (-8.3%).
Construction grew by 19.8% compared to the first quarter of 2019.