WINDHOEK, March 10 — Namibia’S unemployment rate reached an “alarmingly high level of 36.8 percent in 2021”, Namibian Tax Specialist Cameron Kotze said Thursday.
Kotze also said that Namibia’s local economy had steadily declined since 2015, when it had grown by 4.3 percent.
“The decline in economic growth bottomed out in 2020 when it contracted by 8.5 percent. At the same time, unemployment has reached an alarmingly high level of 36.8 percent in 2021. It is expected that the unemployment rate will stabilise in the mid-30 range over the next few years,” said Kotze.
Kotze was speaking during an interview where he spoke about the proposed withholding tax on dividends earned by residents from local investments, which has been mooted by Namibia’s Minister of Finance.
“The Government has indicated that it intends to impose a withholding tax on dividends earned by
residents from local investments (so called resident dividend withholding tax). The Namibian economy has
been battling over the last few years and the introduction of this tax is rather punitive for those entrepreneurs
who would like to invest in the local economy. The last thing an investor wants to hear when making an
investment decision is another tax that must be paid on the return on their investment.”
Cameron Kotzeunempl
According to Kotze, the proposed resident withholding tax on dividends is a tax on the business profits that has already been subject to income tax through the corporate tax system. Namibia has a high effective rate of income tax for
both natural persons and corporate taxpayers compared to other countries in Southern Africa. The standard
corporate income tax rate for a Namibian company is 32%, compared to 27% for South Africa and 22% for
Botswana.
In addition, Kotze said Namibia has a high effective rate of income tax for both natural persons and corporate taxpayers compared to other countries in southern Africa. – XINHUA
