Tannan Groenewald unpacks Namibia’s reclassification to a lower-middle income country

Namibia has been reclassified by the World Bank from an upper-middle income to a lower-middle income country in its FY2026 income classification update.

This makes Namibia the only country globally to have been downgraded this year. The World Bank cites a slower economic growth rate and weak performance in the mining sector as key contributors.

To make sense of all this, we were joined by Tannan Groenewald, Head of Data & Analytics at Cirrus Capital.