WINDHOEK: Minister of Finance and Public Enterprises, Iipumbu Shiimi, has allocated N.dollars 679.4 million to the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service for the 2024/25 financial year.

This was revealed when Shiimi tabled the N.dollars 100 billion national budget in the National Assembly on Wednesday, under the theme ‘Continuing the Legacy of His Excellency, President Hage G Geingob by Caring for the Namibian Child.’

The Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service’s allocation will be divided among its three directorates; sport, youth and national service.

The N.dollars 679.4 million budget saw the sports ministry receive an additional N.dollars 206 million compared to the allocation in the 2023/24 financial year budget, where it received N.dollars 473.2 million.

Shiimi said a total of N.dollars 124 million is allocated for the renovation and upgrading of facilities such as the Independence Stadium in Windhoek over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), among other priorities.

‘N.dollars
124 million has been provided in the development budget for, among others, upgrading of the Independence Stadium, as well as various sports facilities and multipurpose youth centres across the country,’ he said.

In the 2022/23 budget, the sports ministry received an allocation of N.dollars 50 million, while in the 2023/24 budget, an allocation of N.dollars 142 million for the renovation of facilities such as Independence Stadium was made. This year’s allocation once again comes as a tonic for the country’s worn-out sports sector, which continues to struggle with inadequate and dilapidated facilities.

The finance minister stated that the Vote of Sports, Youth and National Service has increased by 45.3 per cent to N.dollars 679.4 million in the Financial Year 2024/25 and a total of N.dollars 2.2 billion over the MTEF.

‘We take note of the re-energised interest in sports activities and have accordingly increased the operational budget for sport promotion programmes by an additional N.dollars 100 million,’ he
said, adding that the budget increase includes N.dollars 29.5 million for preparatory activities to enable Namibia to host the Region 5 Youth Games in May 2025.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency