and there is a severe deficit of skills. i would like to advance two other possible reasons why our growth have been sluggish and without job creation. because of the many social challenges dating back to the legacies of apartheid, we followed a balanced approach to economic development. this means that we decided to develop all economic sectors at the same time. the results of this strategy are less successful than what we have hoped for. while it is true that we have made progress, when compared to faster growing and dynamic economies we have fallen behind. given the size of our domestic economy, our economic policy must, out of necessity, be more outward looking. we cannot rely on internal consumption and the only way is to adopt an export - led economic development strategy. with the exception of this current year, world trade has been growing at an exponential rate and the size of the world market has increased manifold. this provides an opportunity for small open economies to benefit. however, to be able to compete in the world market, we need to produce sufficient quantities at the right price and quality. specifically, i would like to suggest that we adopt a targeted approach towards economic development. resources, financial and human, should be targeted towards economic sectors with high potential for growth and job creation. our recent research indicates that the sectors with the highest potential for faster growth and job creation are transport infrastructure, tourism and agriculture. therefore, we would like to suggest that relatively more resources should be channelled to these sectors over the next ten years. if we do this in a correct manner, the economy could grow at close to 7 percent per annum, which is more in line with what is required to meet vision 2030. i am aware of earlier planned interventions that were abandoned because they were thought to be too expensive. let me say here that i do not want to give an impression that the proposed intervention will be cheap. while it is necessary to consider the cost of intervention, we should do so in relation to the opportunity cost of not intervening. so far our approach to economic development has been somewhat too cautious, except that the results are not encouraging. in addition to a targeted approach and more government intervention, there must also be other accompanying reforms. here i have in mind reforms, for example, of our education system and the labour market. the skills deficit seems to be on the increase. it is encouraging that government has adopted an ambitious plan to revamp our education system. i would like to encourage organized business to also play its

. inflation has been low and stable ; fiscal policy has been prudent and sustainable ; and our external balance has been healthy over the years. moreover economic growth has been positive, resulting into modest gains in per capita income. recently the world bank reclassified namibia from being a lower - middle - income country, to an upper - middle - income country. this should bolster us to want to do more. we are one of only a few countries in sub - saharan africa that has an investment credit rating. with a credit rating, we are able to access international capital markets at relatively better terms. while we may not need to borrow externally for now, external borrowing may be necessary during times of crisis or when in need of additional capital to support faster economic growth. we also have one of the highest savings rates in the world, almost comparable to rates in east asia. however, i remain concerned that up to now we failed to transform all our savings into domestic investment. over the years we wasted precious time engaging in useless debates as how to utilise our own capital to generate higher economic growth. it is simply no longer credible on our part to request other countries to financially assist us while we are happy to continue exporting our own capital. this remains a challenge that we can no longer afford to ignore. equally, on the social front our achievements have been many and laudable. today there are many more children in schools than at independence. our national spending on education as a percentage of total spending is among the highest in the world. more health facilities have been constructed since independence. at least 90 percent of all namibians have access to safe drinking water. this is an achievement that even some of the dynamic fast growing emerging market economies is yet to achieve. so our achievements are numerous and we should celebrate. while our achievements are impressive, our challenges are equally daunting. the risk is that if we do not address the challenges facing us as a matter of priority, the gains we have achieved thus far might be eroded. as to whether we are likely to achieve v2030, according to our research the picture does not look too encouraging. indications are that on the two key goals of per capita income and employment creation, we are not making sufficient progress. the current per capita income is us $ 4, 200. at the current growth rate, we project that by 2030, our per capita income will be us $ 10, 000. this is no near the required level of us $