Economic Pulse - June 2023 The largest global banking crisis since 2008 emerged in March this year, resulting in US regulators shutting down and selling three small- to mid-sized banks over the span of five days. In the same month, in Europe, troubled Swiss giant, Credit Suisse was take-over by a rival bank in a [...]
Economic Pulse - May 2023 2023 was off to a flying start, with the first quarter of the year being a generally positive one for Namibia in terms of economic and financial developments. On the economic front, preliminary National Accounts data from the Namibia Statistics Agency show that Namibia recorded real GDP growth of 4.6% [...]
A VISION OF HOPE Hope Village has been a beneficiary of Standard Bank's long-term support for over 14 years. According to the founder of Hope Village, Marietjie de Klerk, Standard Bank committed to the project wholeheartedly from the beginning. As the former MD, Mpumzi Pupuma, said, "We are in it for the long haul. We [...]
BRIGHTER DAY INITIATIVE The Brighter Day Hope Foundation is a psychosocial support and holistic education development organisation that has been operating in partnership with Standard Bank. It was endorsed by the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture in November 2021. As part of the Brighter Day Initiative, psychosocial support services were rolled out in collaboration [...]
Economic Pulse - March 2023 The advent of new technologies has often raised concern that new, often more efficient ways of doing things, will lead to job displacement. This fear has not been limited to blue-collar jobs, as white-collar jobs have been equally "threatened" by the introduction of technologies such as calculators on computers. In [...]
Economic Pulse - February 2023 Digital nomad visas have been rising in the popularity as the number of people working remotely has increased in recent years. Remote working became a necessity during the pandemic-induced lockdowns and most of us have had to adapt to getting the job done outside of the customary office environment. This [...]
N$400M RAISED IN GREEN BOND ISSUANCE DEBUT First issued in 2007, green bonds were created to exclusively finance project, assist or business activities that have positive environmental and / or climate benefits. Standard Bank Namibia has emphasised its commitment to playing a key role in sustainable funding solutions in Namibia by successfully raising N$400 million [...]
Economic Pulse - January 2023 Share repurchases have been a hotly debated topic, particularly in the developed world, for a number of years now, and yet it somehow still remains one of the most misunderstood and maligned corporate actions. The reason why the subject is topical in Namibia right now is the fact that two [...]
Economic Pulse - December 2022 Looking back, 2022 was a year of ups and downs. The optimism that pervaded the start of the year faded as the Ukraine conflict escalated. Tightening monetary policy and rampant inflation in major developed economies renewed the uncertainty of economic recovery though mid-to-late 2022. And, as at the time of [...]
Economic Pulse - October 2022 Nuclear power has long been controversial, with proponents citing its potential to decarbonise the world and opponents raising concerns about safety and waste. However, as the need to address climate change grows more urgent, nuclear energy is gaining new support as a clean source of green energy. Nuclear plants do [...]
