TUESDAY, 2.30PM
NAMIBIA will not follow South Africa into allowing its citizens to open foreign currency accounts, the bank of Namibia has announced.
Senior Research Manager Ehrenfried Merero told a briefing that the Bank was obliged to be prudent and the economy was not yet ready for relaxed controls. “The issue is not whether Namibian residents will be allowed to open customer foreign currency accounts, but rather when Namibian economic conditions will allow this,” he said.
However the Bank remained committed to the progressive relaxation of exchange controls, and had implemented several liberalisation measures, including the decision to allow Namibian residents travelling abroad an annual foreign currency allowance of N$80 000 per adult, up from N$60 000 a year. *