Research

The mission of the Research Department is to conduct economic research and provide policy advice to maintain and promote macroeconomic stability and financial sector development in the interest of economic growth and development. To accomplish this mission, the department regularly collects, analyses and forecasts various macroeconomic data. These include monetary and financial statistics, real sector data, balance of payments data and fiscal sector data. Presently, the Research Department is divided into three divisions namely: the Statistics and Publication Division, Policy Research and Forecasting Division and the International Affairs Division.

Statistics and Publication Division

The main functions of the Statistics and Publication Division include the collection, compilation, analysis and publication of Macro-economic data pertaining to Balance of Payments, Real sector, Monetary & Financial data and Public Finance. Further a detailed database is maintained by the division that contains time series data relating to these data sets. The division does complex analysis of data to form a basis for monitoring economic performance and policy formulation. It further ensures that the statistics published by the Bank of Namibia conforms to international standards and methodology.

Policy Research and Forecasting Division

The main functions of the Policy Research and Forecasting Division include undertaking analytical research in general macroeconomic issues with a strong emphasis on monetary, international, financial, real, and public sector economics. The Division oversees the regular production of the Bank's occasional and working papers that are the main avenues for the dissemination of the research findings. Further, the Division is responsible for developing and managing the macroeconomic forecasting models in the Bank with the aim of providing private and public stakeholders with reliable forecasts. The forecasts are also used in the monetary policy decision processes. This requires that the Division regularly monitors trends in the global and domestic macroeconomic indicators in order to form a view on the future outlook of these indicators. The preparation of the macroeconomic framework which serves as input in the budget formulation process is also the responsibility of this Division.

International Affairs Division

The main functions the International Affairs Division include the promotion and co-ordination of the Bank’s interactions with other central banks as well as regional, international, and multilateral institutions and organisations such as the CMA, SACU, SADC, AACB, IMF, and World Bank, amongst others. The Division keep abreast of regional and international developments and advise the Bank management and Government accordingly. The Division participates in meetings and conferences relating to international co-operation as representative of the Bank or on behalf of Government. Given that the regionalism is a cross-cutting issue, the Division regularly liaise with other Departments within the Bank, Government ministries and other stakeholders on regional co-operation arrangements.

Departmental Management