No PayPal in Namibia
Loss to business community - LPM asks for clarification
LPM MP Henny Seibeb has asked the finance minister why the PayPal online system is "not working" in Namibia and whether the hurdles will eventually be removed. "In South Africa and Botswana, this international electronic payment method is available, but in Namibia payments via PayPal cannot be withdrawn from corporate bank accounts," Seibeb said. The Bank of Namibia (BoN) has no regulatory restrictions on Namibian companies accessing, selling and receiving payments on international e-commerce platforms. There are also no regulatory restrictions on Namibians owning international wallets on third-party payment platforms such as PayPal. There are also no restrictions on Namibians withdrawing their funds to domestic bank accounts via PayPal wallets. “The decision whether this marketplace allows Namibians to set up merchant accounts with them is, is a purely commercial and not a regulatory decision,” the BoN said, adding that “the challenge has always been to get such funds from a PayPal wallet to be able to transfer to a domestic (local) bank account”. “This is solely PayPal's decision. They have the option of contacting a local bank to enable this withdrawal feature, or simply allowing payment via a bank card,” the BoN said. Some major markets are not present in Namibia due to the lack of commercial interest to provide these services to local traders due to the low transaction volume and population density in Namibia. PayPal prioritises other countries since there is little to no interest in listing the Namibia dollar as a convertible currency on their platforms. However, finance minister Iipumbu Shiimi will soon provide an answer to Seibeb's question. According to Wikipedia, PayPal is a "listed online payment service that can be used to pay for medium and small amounts, for example when buying and selling online". PayPal is said to have over 377 million active users worldwide and is used in over 200 markets with around 100 different currencies. One of the founders after the merger of two companies in March 2000 is Elon Musk. eBay acquired PayPal for nearly U$1.5 billion in 2002, and the company is reported to have posted net income of U$4.2 billion in fiscal 2020.