Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698747591662.pdf (Namibia)
REPUBLIC OF NAMIBIA BUDGET SPEECH FOR VOTE 26: NATIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION FOR THE 2021/2022 FINANCIAL YEAR BY HON.

CHRISTINE //HOEBES MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY 1 Honourable Speaker Honourable Members It is a great honour and privilege to present to this August House the National Planning Commission budget for the financial year 2021/2022 for your due consideration.
Honourable Speaker Honourable Members During the financial year 2020/2021 National Planning Commission undertook several activities aiming at furthering the achievements of both medium- and long- term national objectives some of which are ongoing.

However, the breakout of the COVID19 Pandemic has both affected the activities at the institutional level but also at the national level.
Most importantly the effects on our national economy is huge; as you might have noticed, the national economy declined by eight percent in terms of economic growth.

The pandemic has exacerbated the already precarious situation of high levels of unemployment, declining per capita income, high levels of inequality and poverty among others.

It has exposed our vulnerability as a country in terms of food security and livelihood.

During the review period NPC undertook and achieved the following activities.
• The NPC together with other key Ministries and the Bank of Namibia has done some extensive work with the Harvard Growth Lab that are aimed at providing government with better understanding of the factors that explain Namibia’s recent economic performance, disseminating that knowledge and improve the diagnostic tools so that policymakers in Namibia, in particular NDP6 policy formulation process could be enhanced in order to better 2 formulate policies that spark sustainable and inclusive growth, promote export diversification, spur job creation, and reduce inequality.
• The National Planning Commission has started the process of reviewing Vision 2030 with the purpose to evaluate progress made towards the achievement of Namibia’s long-term objectives; and establish a solid baseline for future development up until 2030 and beyond.

This will also inform the formulation of NDP6.


• Undertook an evaluation of the Green Scheme programme to assess implementation towards the achievement of expected results (intended or unintended, positive and negative) of the Green scheme programme.

• Mobilized Official Development Assistance (ODA) in the form of grants and technical assistance from both Multilateral and Bilateral Development Partners (DPs) amounted to N$1.8 billion.
This equates to 2.5% of the national budget for the year 2020/2021; this translates to an amount of N$72.1 billion.

• Africa Peer Review Mechanism conducted the Country Self -Assessment Report of Namibia between September and March 2021.

This report will document and recommend remedial measures in areas of democracy and political governance; economic governance and management; corporate governance and socio- economic governance.
• Produced in collaboration with UNDP, Namibia a Human Development Report themed “Addressing Inequality and Disparities: Towards a New Dignified Life for All Namibians”.

The report brings to the fore the multidimensional aspect of inequalities in Namibia and advance a holistic approach to address both the issues of inequality, poverty, and employment in Namibia.
• As part of the Census preparations, NSA successfully conducted the Censuses Mapping project which is an exercise of data collection about all structures 3 (Residential, Commercial, Industrial and others) to determine where Namibian habit and Household structure types in preparation for the main Census.

As at end of March 2021, more than 98% of all structures in the country were enumerated and the remaining less than 2% will be completed by end of April 2021.
• In the same vein and spirit of the Census Mapping, NSA also carried out a successful advocacy campaign to create awareness to the public (especially those sections of the population that do not always want to collaborate in giving information for National Socio-economic planning purposes) to sensitize them about the importance of participating in national census.
Honourable Speaker Honourable Members The allocation to the National Planning Commission for the Financial Year 2021/22 is One Hundred and Eighty Two million, Seven Hundred and Eight One Thousand Namibian Dollars (N$182,781,000).

The budget will be utilized to implement the key activities under the following programs: PROGRAMME 01: MACRO - ECONOMIC PLANNING This Programme entails the development of national development plans, research on socio–economic issues and macroeconomic policy analysis and modeling.
4 The Programme further planned to organize and conduct 2021 Economic Development Conference, and to undertake the formulation of NDP6.

The Programme planned to conduct and complete the 2020 Economic Report and undertake relevant research’s studies (Nation Human Development Report, Cost of Hunger Report, Namibia Multiple poverty Index, Labour Market outlook).

The Programme is allocated with an amount of Ten Million, Four Hundred and Eighteen Thousand Namibian Dollars (N$10,418,000 mil.)
PROGRAMME 02: REGIONAL & SECTORAL PLANNING AND POLICY COORDINATION The Programme aims to ensure that NDP5 is implemented and that the development budget programs and projects are aligned to the national priorities as outlined in NDP5.

The Programme further aims to strengthen regional planning and coordinate the formulation and review of socio-economic public policies to ensure consistency with national objectives and priorities as well as to evaluate policy effectiveness.
The Programme will ensure that all policies that are drafted or revised follow the same standard and have a clear Implementation Action Plan that serves as a tool to guide the implementation of policies.

Further, the Programme will continue to provide guidance during the preparation of Development budget.

The allocation for this Programme is Twelve million, Seven Hundred and Eight Thousand Namibian Dollars (N$12,708,000).
PROGRAMME 03: MONITORING, EVALUATION AND DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS COORDINATION 5 The objective of this Programme is to mobilize, coordinate and manage external development resources and to develop and maintain a national integrated monitoring and evaluation system for the whole government.

The Programme will continue to be mobilized external resources to augment the government’s efforts in implementing the National Development Plan.
Furthermore, the Programme will focus on NDP5 progress reporting and instituting monitoring and evaluation system.

Moreover, a Project Delivery Unit was established under this Programme to aggressively assist in developing, monitor and guide the implementation of the various projects under HPP II.
The Programme is allocated with an amount of Thirty-Four Million, Two Hundred and Sixty-Three Thousand Namibian Dollars (N$34,263,000) of which an amount of Twenty Million Namibian Dollar (N$20,000,000) is for Project Deliver Unit.

PROGRAMME 99: SUPERVISION, COORDINATION & SUPPORT SERVICES The Programme aims to provide supervision, efficient administrative and support services, provision and maintaining of ICT infrastructure and production of reliable statistics.
It is under this Programme that National Planning Commission provides financial support to Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) and Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) to perform their mandates: Having conducted the Country Self-Assessment, APRM will finalize the National Program of Action and ready to conduct a Base Review.
6 Further, the NSA will be developing the Namibian Housing Information System (Namibian Housing Database) – The development of the Housing Database is part of the 2nd Land Conference Resolutions.

The Programme will also be conducting the Census Pilot –which is an actual testing phase of the Census enumeration to eventually ensure efficiency during the main census, which will be conducted in 2022/2023 financial year.
The allocation to this Programme is One Hundred and Twenty-Five Million, Three Hundred and Ninety-Two Thousand Namibian Dollars (N$125,392,000) of which an amount of Ninety-Three Million and Five Hundred and Twenty-Seven Thousand Namibian Dollar (N$93,527,000) is a subsidy transfer to the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) for their operational expenditure.
Honourable Speaker Honourable Members Having narrated the achievement and focus areas for the 2021/ 2022 financial year, National Planning Commission commits to direct and deliver national development agenda.

Vote 26 has been allocated a total budget for 2021/2022 financial year of One Hundred and Eighty Two million, Seven Hundred and Eight One Thousand Namibian Dollars (N$182,781,000) for operational expenditure.
Honourable Speaker, I now have the honour to submit to this August House, a total amount of One Hundred and Eighty Two million, Seven Hundred and Eight One Thousand Namibian Dollars (N$182,781,000) for Vote 26 and I plead with all Honourable Members to support our budget.

I thank you.

7