Cost of living in Namibia

The cost of living in Namibia is very high.^{[1] [2]} Namibia imports about 50% of its cereal requirements. Many other items used in daily life also need to be imported. High transportation costs make prices very high. Monopoly in some business sectors causes higher profit booking, which also results in raising of prices. ^[3][4]

For example, the price (as of 2011) of electricity for domestic consumers in Windhoek for post paid consumers is 1.19 N$ per unit (KWH) added with ECB levy of 0.0060 N$ per unit. A Fixed Cost based on the load is added to the bill and The Minimum amount is 48N$ (up to 10A load). While most of the consumers, who are having prepaid metering unit, continue to pay Flat @1.30 N$ per unit of electricity.^[5]. ^[6]The Price of Gasoline (Petrol) is around 9 N$ per Liter,^[7] and The price of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) is close to 3 N$ per Liter.^[8] Rent for a family accommodation may exceed 12000 N$ per month in safe urban locations.^[9] Price of 1 litre water bottle is around 15 N$, Cost of 1 Litre UHT Milk is around 15N$, Cost of 1 Raw Egg is 2N$, The cost of 1 Kg Fresh Chicken is around 60N$ and the Cost of 1Kg Frozen Chicken is around 30N$. Red Meat will cost around 60 to 100N$ per Kg. ^[10]. ^[11]. The cost of making an international call other than neighbouring country is 12 N$ per min and internet access over 3G will cost maximum of 1 N$ per MB ^[12][13]

Banking in Namibia

The banking sector in Namibia is highly developed with modern infrastructre, such as Online Banking, Cellphone Banking etc. The Bank of Namibia (BoN) is the central bank of Namibia, according the Namibian Constitution, is to “serve as the State’s principle instrument to control the money supply, the currency and the institutions of finance, and to perform all other functions ordinarily performed by a central bank”.^[14]

This is a list of authorised commercial banks in Namibia^[15]

1. Bank Windhoek
2. First National Bank
3. Nedbank
4. Standard Bank

Namibian banks offer wide variety of products like Savings Accounts, Cheque Accounts, Transmission Accounts, Investment Accounts, Credit Cards Accounts and many types of Loan Accounts (Vehicle Loan, Mortgage/Housing Loan, Personal Loan etc.) to meet it's customer requirements. The money in Savings & Investment accounts earns interest, while no interest is paid for cheque and transmission accounts. The credit balance in credit card account also earn interests. Most of the accounts are subjected to monthly account fees and Credit Card accounts are subjected to annual fees. There is no reward / loyalty progam for using credit card in Namibia.^[16]

The interest earned in any bank account is subjected to a flat 10% retention as income tax. All debit transactions, including debit card transactions, credit card transactions, at the bank's teller counter transactions & online banking transactions are also subjected to a Government Duty of 0.2N$ per transaction.

The Bank's charges are applicable for Cash Handling Transactions such as cash deposits and cash withdrawal at Bank's Teller Counter (For certain savings account, the cash deposits up to only 1000N$/Months are exempted from this fee). Bank's charges are also applicable for each transaction carried out by internet banking or by debit cards, which are significantly lower than "at the counter transactions".^[17]

Taking a cash or personal loan from a financial institution in Namibia is particularly very expensive because the loan repayment includes several fees such as Stamp duties, Namfisa Charges, Credit life insurance, Bank admin fees, Administration fees, Finance charges and Value Added Tax (VAT)". ^[18]

Working and living in Namibia

With over 51% unemployment, ^[19] the government is unenthusiastic about letting people in from foreign countries who would take jobs from Namibians. All semi-skilled and unskilled positions must be unconditionally filled by local Namibians ^{[20] [21]}. It is possible to get a work permit to volunteer, though this requires going through the same drawn out process as the normal work permit.

An employee's salary is normally paid in Namibian dollars; which is the local currency and income tax (Maximum Rate is 37% and is based on different income slabs) is deducted by the employer. One United State Dollar (1 US$ or 1 USD) = 8.10 Namibian Dollar (N$ or NAD). ^[22]

See also

• Taxation in Namibia
• Economy of Namibia

References

1. ^ "Windhoek's cost of living sky-rocketing, Official China Embassy Website". http://na2.mofcom.gov.cn/aarticle/chinanews/201003/20100306817395.html. Retrieved 2010-03-11. 
2. ^ "Cost of Living Triggering Labour Unrest". http://allafrica.com/stories/201109220682.html. Retrieved 2011-11-22. 
3. ^ "Economy ::Namibia : Economy-Overview". https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/wa.html. Retrieved 2010-10-10. 
4. ^ "2010 Investment Climate Statement - Namibia". http://www.state.gov/e/eeb/rls/othr/ics/2010/138117.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-10. 
5. ^ "Interim Schedule Of Approved Tariffs 2011-2012" (PDF). http://www.ecb.org.na/pdf/tariff/2011/Windhoek%202011.pdf. Retrieved 2011-09-01. 
6. ^ "City of Windhoek hikes power tariffs" (HTML). http://www.namibian.com.na/news/full-story/archive/2011/september/article/city-hikes-power-tariffs/. Retrieved 2011-09-02. 
7. ^ "Fuel prices remain unchanged for June". The Namibian. http://www.namibian.com.na/news/marketplace/full-story/archive/2011/june/article/fuel-prices-remain-unchanged-for-june/. Retrieved 2011-06-06. 
8. ^ Graig, Augetto. "Namibian News Online". Namibian.com.na. http://www.namibian.com.na/index.php?id=28&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=6726&no_cache=1. Retrieved 2010-06-26. 
9. ^ "Property Listing in Namibia". Myproperty.com.na. http://www.myproperty.com.na. Retrieved 2010-06-26. 
10. ^ "Dairy products up 5,3%". The Namibian. http://www.namibian.com.na/index.php?id=28&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=69504&no_cache=1. Retrieved 2010-06-29. 
11. ^ "Spar Market Price List". The Price List by Spar Market in Maerua Mall, Windhoek. http://www.spar-international.com/about-spar/spar-countries/namibia. Retrieved 2010-09-01. 
12. ^ "MTC Netman 3G Internet". www.netman.com.na. http://www.netman.com.na/prepaid_bundles.php. Retrieved 2010-11-11. 
13. ^ "Prepaid Call rate for MTC Tango". www.MTC.com.na. http://www.mtc.com.na/tango_tarrifs_pop_new.php. Retrieved 2010-11-15. 
14. ^ "Bank of Namibia (BoN)". https://www.bon.com.na. Retrieved 2011-04-03. 
15. ^ "Bank of Namibia >> Bank Operations>> Banking Supervision and Regulations >>Authorised Banks". https://www.bon.com.na. Retrieved 2011-04-03. 
16. ^ "First National Bank Pricing Guide". https://www.fnbnamibia.com.na/downloads/namibia/FNB_Credit_Card-Consumer_Pricing.pdf. Retrieved 2011-04-05. 
17. ^ "Standard Bank Pricing Guide". http://www.standardbank.co.za/site/stanbic/namibia/pdf/BankchargesGUIDE2011.pdf. Retrieved 2011-04-05. 
18. ^ "Banks Commit ‘Daylight Robbery’". http://www.namibian.com.na/letters/full-story/archive/2011/october/article/banks-commit-daylight-robbery/. Retrieved 2011-10-07. 
19. ^ "Half of all Namibians unemployed". http://www.namibian.com.na/index.php?id=28&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=64306&no_cache=1. Retrieved 2010-04-02. 
20. ^ "China Is A Cactus In Namibia". http://www.namibian.com.na/columns/full-story/archive/2011/may/article/china-3-namibia-1-china-is-a-cactus-in-namibia/. Retrieved 2011-05-20. 
21. ^ "Chinese sentenced for overstaying". 24-10-2011. http://www.namibian.com.na/news/full-story/archive/2011/october/article/chinese-sentenced-for-overstaying/. Retrieved 2011-11-02. 
22. ^ "Yahoo Currency Converter". http://in.finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=USDNAD=X&t=5d&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=/. Retrieved 2011-10-05.