Did you know?

* In the third quarter of 2019, beer and soft drinks production increased by 7.1% and 0.9% year-on-year respectively, according to the latest figures by the Bank of Namibia (BoN).

* The production of blister copper fell by 37.6% y-o-y.

* Diamond processing decreased by 14.1% y-o-y over the same period.

* The production of refined zinc and cement increased by 54.4% and 27.7% y-o-y in the three months under review.

* Employment in the manufacturing sector rose by 1.8% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2019.

The rise was mainly driven by the food and other manufacturing subsectors, while employment in subsectors such as printing and publishing, food as well as textiles and clothing continued to decline, the BoN says.

* Nominal and average wages in the manufacturing sector increased on a yearly basis during the third quarter of 2019, according to the BoN.

The nominal and average wages in the manufacturing sector rose by 6.5% and 4.6% respectively. The rise was observed in a number of subsectors of the manufacturing sector, such as food, mineral processing and chemicals, the central bank says.

* Nearly a quarter of manufacturing’s workforce in 2017/18 was women, according to the latest data by the Employment Equity Commission (EEC).

* Only 1.5% of the sector’s workforce in 2017/18 was foreigners.