Ericah Shafudah unveils N$81.3 billion social-focused budget

Namibia's social sector just gobbled up nearly 62% of an N$81.3 billion operational budget, making it the undeniable spending heavyweight for 2026/27.

Budget headline numbers

• Ericah Shafudah unveiled the operational budget last Thursday.
• Spending jumped N$746 million over the prior year's outturn.
• Efficiency cuts across ministries freed up N$2.3 billion in savings.
• Revenue for the fiscal year sits at an estimated N$89.8 billion.

Social sector gets the lion's share

• Education, health, safety nets, and youth empowerment split N$54.3 billion.
• The education ministry alone pulls N$28 billion of that pot.
• Subsidized tertiary education got N$2.8 billion earmarked specifically.
• N$1.7 billion goes toward beefing up civil-servant pay structures.

Civil-servant salary bumps

• Grades 15 and 14 get a flat N$700 monthly bump starting in April.
• Grades 13 through 1 score a 5% basic-salary increase.
• Everyone from grades 1 to 15 gets another 5% raise in 2027/28.
• Non-management workers also land a 7% transport-allowance hike then.

Security, development, and fiscal outlook

• Safety and security grabbed N$17 billion, about 19.5% of spending.
• Development projects got N$6.5 billion in state-funded allocations.
• SACU receipts are projected to climb to N$24.3 billion.
• Budget deficit should shrink from 5.5% to 3.3% of GDP by 2028/29.