Maria David
A TOTAL 149 jobs has been created during the 2018/19 financial year through the Namibia of Fish Consumption Promotion Trust (NFCPT), as part of it’s mandate to deliver on human capital.
This was announced by Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resource Bernhard Easu, during a press conference held at Ongwediva in the Oshana Region on Friday.
According to Easu, the Trust has to date, employed 149 Namibians across the thirteen regions of the country. Of the total workforce, 112 or 69 percent are operational, at fish shops, and 35 or 31 percent are administration and support staff.
“With respect to gender representation, the Trust is 47 percent female and 53 percent male dominated due to the physical nature of work, especially at operational level,” said Easu.
Easu however, stated that the Trust’s management is 43 percent male and 57 percent female dominated.
During the period under view, the Trust’s total assets stand at over N$132 million as compared to over N$142 million for 2017/2018 financial year, which represents a decrease of 7.5 percent.
Easu stated that out of these assets, over N$68 million was for fixed assets, while the remaining N$63 million is described as liquid.
“Due to the cash-flow deficit, the Trust’s liquidity position shrunk from an expected ratio of 4:1 to 3:1 at the end of the current financial period,” he noted.
He explained that even though the Trust was still able to cover its debts, deliberate action must be taken to overcome the deficit in the next financial period.
“As such, in future, the Trust plans to finance capital projects and fixed assets with long-term financing arrangements, in order to promote and develop expansion plans,” he cited.
Moreover, the Trust revenue has equally improved from more than N$87 million in 2017/2018 Financial Year to over N$95 million at the end of 2018/2019 Financial Year, thus representing a nine percent improvement.
“The Trust experienced a cash-flow deficit of N$5.5 million for the financial year due to financing of capital projects and fixed assets,” said Easu.
According to Easu the deficit is primarily driven by the fact that the Trust operates on a cash basis.
“This situation produces a mismatch of costs versus benefits, especially regarding capital projects and fixed assets,” he said.
He noted that in the future, the Trust will assess the available financing options in order to rectify the negative cash-flow position.
