Namibia's trade deficit widened to 4.3 billion Namibia dollars (about 288 million U.S. dollars) in July, up from 2.5 billion Namibia dollars recorded in the previous month, according to the country's latest trade statistics released Tuesday.

In the year that ended in July, Namibia maintained an average trade deficit of 3.3 billion Namibia dollars, according to the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA).

"For July 2022, Namibia's exports earnings were down by 14.8 percent on a monthly basis, while the imports bill was up by 4.5 percent," NSA Statistician-General Alex Shimuafeni said, adding that the deficit was reflected mostly in the petroleum oils import bill, followed by copper ores and concentrates, and ores and concentrates of precious metal.

According to Shimuafeni, Botswana emerged as the main export market for Namibia, absorbing 20.5 percent of all goods exported, ahead of South Africa in the second position with a market share of 19.8 percent of total exports.

China ranked third with a relative share of 10 percent, while Zambia and the Netherlands occupied the fourth and fifth positions with respective shares of 8.8 percent and 6.6 percent, he added.

"The analysis of exports by commodities revealed that precious stones (diamonds) had the largest share of 25.3 percent in Namibia's total exports, ahead of fish with a share of 10.6 percent," he said." Uranium accounted for 7.5 percent, while non-monetary gold and petroleum oils came in fourth and fifth positions, accounting for 7.3 percent and 7 percent, respectively."

In terms of imports, South Africa, Peru, Oman, Bulgaria, and India were the major source countries, Shimuafeni said.

"The top five import markets supplied Namibia with 66.8 percent of all imports requirement, up from its June 2022 level of 52.3 percent and 62.8 percent recorded in July 2021," he said.