Staff Reporter
THE Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) assisted with the preservation of approximately 950 tourism and hospitality jobs for the Gondwana Collection Namibia, by providing finance of N$53 million through its Covid-19 Business Relief Loan, which is supported by capitalization from KFW, Development Bank of Germany.
The group stated that the loan was used to pay the salaries of employees that are employed at 28 different accommodation establishments and companies.
The group said that it also undertook certain measures to preserve its workforce and their incomes, despite the impact that Covid-19 (and the subsequent red-listing of Namibia) had on the country’s tourism and hospitality sector.
“Among measures the group undertook, management has taken substantial salary cuts, and other employees have also accepted salary cuts. Other measures to reduce costs included tightening of work schedules, overtime restrictions, leave schedules and operating with skeleton staff where possible,” the group stated.
The group’s efforts received praise from DBN’s Executive for Marketing and Corporate Communications, Jerome Mutumba, who stated that he not only admired how the group and its staff operated but also the individual commitments that were made to preserve jobs.
Mutumba further stated that DBN is also doing everything within its power to preserve the tourism industry as the bank recognises the industry’s contributions to the Namibian economy.
In this regard, the bank’s efforts include a moratorium on repayments for existing customers in the tourism and hospitality sector, placing restrictions on loans and extending the Covid-19 Business Relief Loans to new customers.
Mutumba also pointed out that DBN assesses its loans in terms of longer-term investments and takes the sustainability of the investment into consideration.
Furthermore, he stated that the Namibian economy must be rebalanced to shed reliance on a few highly productive sectors, such as the manufacturing and transport and logistics sectors, which must be further developed not only to make the country more economically self-sufficient but also to improve the country’s attractiveness for foreign direct investments.
