Geingob calls on international financial institutions to review capital adequacy ratios

President Hage Geingob has called on international financing institutions like the World Bank to review their capital adequacy ratios to unlock more capital for lending to both lower- and middle-income countries.

He said the call for the reform of international financial architecture is a call to broaden opportunities to support development.

“Sustainable and predictable financing is the bedrock for all our development priorities and only when this is prioritised, can we put back on track our collective developmental ambitions.”

Geingob was speaking at the United Nations General Assembly underway in New York on Tuesday.

According to Geingob, Namibia identified unique opportunities that would address various sustainable development goals and climate change, including renewable energy, green hydrogen, the cultivation of carbon sequestering underwater kelp, sustainable water management and clean synthetic fuels production.

“Through public private sector collaboration and targeted economic diplomacy, we packaged these opportunities using innovative financial tools such as green bonds, sustainability bonds, grants and official development assistance to mobilise more than US$1,2 billion in financing commitments by 2023,” said Geingob.

He said Namibia continues to be unfairly classified as an upper middle-income country because of its high per capita income.

The president said taking the small population of Namibia, dividing its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and arriving at a per-capita income that is high is not a good measurement.

“It does not reflect the reality of the past colonial injustices in Namibia where the white minority oppressed the black majority,” Geingob said.
He said Namibia is unlikely to succeed in what it wants to do because the conditions are not favourable.

Geingob said Namibians, however, have always refused to consider themselves helpless victims of these obstacles.