Namibia’s trade deficit widened to 26.2 billion Namibian dollars (about 2.2 billion U.S. dollars) in 2014 as compared to 17.2 billion Namibian dollars in the preceding year, according to a statement released by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) on Wednesday. 
The NSA said the widening of the trade deficit was reflected in a 23.2 percent increase in the import bill to 90.6 billion Namibian dollars from 73.5 billion Namibian dollars in the previous year.
In terms of exports, the agency said total exports increased only moderately to 64.4 billion Namibian dollars from 56.3 billion Namibian dollars as compared to the previous year.
Namibia’s major export destinations in 2014 in order of values were Botswana, South Africa, Switzerland, Korea and Angola. Exported commodities were dominated by precious stones (diamonds), ships and floating structures, ores, fish and copper.
On the other hand, Namibia’s imports were mainly sourced from South Africa, Korea, China, Bahamas and Germany. According to NSA, Namibia’s top imports are vehicles, ships and floating structures, machinery and mechanical appliances, mineral fuels and electrical machinery and equipment.
Meanwhile, the NSA said Namibia’s imports and exports were transported by road, air and sea transport. Enditem
-Xinhua
