🇳🇦NamibiaSouthern Africa
Namibia's oil and gas sector faces challenges in digital transformation
via The Namibian2 min read
Namibia's oil and gas sector is poised for digital transformation, but faces significant hurdles, including a shortage of skilled professionals, inadequate digital infrastructure, and cybersecurity risks. The country can currently meet only about 45% of the technical skills required by the sector, necessitating investment in education, vocational training, and knowledge transfer programs to reduce reliance on foreign expertise. Developing robust digital infrastructure, such as high-speed internet and remote monitoring systems, is crucial for effective real-time data exchange and operations, especially given Namibia's vast geography. Furthermore, the integration of digital systems increases vulnerability to cyber threats, making strong regulatory frameworks, international best practices, and national cyber defense capabilities essential. Successful digitization also requires coordination among government agencies, private companies, academic institutions, and international partners, with public-private partnerships playing a key role in resource mobilization and innovation. Despite these challenges, digitization offers Namibia a unique opportunity for inclusive economic growth by creating jobs in emerging fields and supporting environmental sustainability. The country must prioritize digitization through coordinated investment, strong governance, and a commitment to skills development to unlock the full potential of its oil and gas resources and build a resilient, knowledge-dr
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This summary was AI-generated from a story originally published by The Namibian.
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Namibia has fallen one place to 69th out of 70 countries in the 2026 International Institute for Management Development IMD World Competitiveness Ranking. Despite maintaining price stability, ranking eighth globally for controlling inflation with a 3.51% rate in 2025, the country faces significant hurdles in fostering business growth, attracting investment, and expanding economic opportunities. The report highlights issues such as government financial pressures, high borrowing costs, limited funding for small businesses, and infrastructure gaps. Namibia performed poorly in domestic economic activity, attracting international investment, and basic, technology, and scientific infrastructure. Economic growth remains slow at 1.7% real gross domestic product GDP growth, with a heavy reliance on mining and other primary industries, making the N$70 billion economy vulnerable to global commodity price fluctuations. The IMD recommends that Namibia diversify its economy beyond traditional sectors, improve infrastructure, enhance access to finance for businesses, and strengthen government systems.