Pension funds urged to invest N$30bn

Invest locally
Former central bank governor proposes that pension funds and insurers channel N$6bn a year into domestic projects, subject to strict commercial and governance standards
Ogone Tlhage
  • 29 Minutes Ago

Namibia’s pension funds and long-term insurers should consider investing N$30 billion in domestic infrastructure over the next five years, former Bank of Namibia governor Johannes !Gawaxab has proposed, as the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) pushes for a common standard to determine which projects are ready for institutional investment.


The proposal would see institutional investors commit the equivalent of 5% of the country’s non-bank financial assets, estimated at about N$600 billion, to infrastructure projects delivered through public-private partnerships (PPPs).


Speaking at the inaugural GIPF Investment Symposium this week, !Gawaxab said this would translate into approximately N$6 billion a year, directed towards five priority areas: logistics, power generation and transmission, water security, connectivity and technology networks, and housing.


He stressed, however, that the proposal was not a call for compulsory investment or a relaxation of the standards governing pension savings.


“5% of new money is a commitment to prepare, review and decide, not a quota to fill,” he said.


The proposal comes as Namibia seeks to mobilise more of its domestic savings to finance infrastructure and economic development, while institutional investors face increasing pressure to demonstrate that their investments deliver commercial returns and protect members’ long-term interests.


!Gawaxab said non-bank financial institutions held N$553 billion in assets at the end of December 2025, with the figure approaching N$600 billion. Pension funds accounted for N$301 billion, while long-term insurers held N$107 billion.


About half of these assets were invested in Namibia, with 18% elsewhere in the Common Monetary Area and 32% beyond it. !Gawaxab estimated that roughly N$275 billion of Namibian savings was therefore invested outside the country.


He argued that the objective should not be to restrict diversification or force capital to remain within Namibia, but to improve the quality of domestic investment opportunities.


“I am here to argue that the share invested at home should rise because the opportunities at home improve, not because anyone is told to put it there,” he said.


!Gawaxab warned that projects could be important to Namibia’s development without necessarily being suitable investments for pension funds.


“Public value and investment value can support each other, but they are not interchangeable,” he said.


Pension monies not a solution 


He also cautioned against treating pension funds as a substitute for government funding, arguing that the state and development finance institutions should carry risks associated with early-stage project preparation, construction and other public objectives.


“Forced money is expensive money,” he said, warning that prescribed investments or pressure on funds to support weak projects could undermine members’ returns and allow poorly structured investments to escape commercial scrutiny.


The proposal is built around six interventions: preparing projects for investment, pooling institutional capital, using blended finance, investing in proven operating assets, widening the savings base and publishing measurable investment outcomes.


Among the proposals is a national project preparation facility, funded by government and development partners, to take projects from concept to bankability. He also called for a professionally managed co-investment platform, with larger funds such as GIPF potentially acting as anchors, allowing smaller funds to participate in transactions without duplicating due diligence.


He estimated that the proposed N$6 billion annual investment could add about N$4.8 billion to economic output each year and support an average of 22,000 jobs over the five-year period. Those estimates are based on assumptions outlined in his speech and would depend on the projects ultimately financed.


GIPF seeks common investment standard


The proposal gives weight to the broader agenda set out by GIPF chief executive Martin Inkumbi, who opened the symposium by calling for a collective institutional position on what constitutes an investment-ready project.


Inkumbi said the gathering, held under the theme Investment Ready: Positioning Namibia for Institutional Capital, was intended to move beyond discussion and produce practical outcomes for the investment industry.


“That means moving beyond constructive discussion to a written institutional position, clearly attributable to the participating institutions,” he said.


GIPF wants the symposium to help develop an Environmental Readiness Framework that can be published and used to assess future investment opportunities. It is also seeking greater clarity on the boundary between trustees’ fiduciary responsibilities and the development objectives expected of institutional investors.


“This is not a pitch session: it is a diagnosis of what is ready and what still needs work,” he said.


The Fund also wants the discussions to strengthen regional co-investment and capital pooling, while bringing regulators, government, investors and project developers into closer alignment on the conditions needed to attract institutional capital.


Inkumbi said the wider ambition was to create market-making infrastructure that connects Namibia’s available capital with a pipeline of investment-ready opportunities.


The two-day symposium brings together leaders from finance, government, regulation and infrastructure to examine the regulatory, governance, project-development and risk-management conditions needed to attract long-term capital.