Photo taken on Aug. 26, 2014 shows the Sandwich Harbour view on the west coast of Namibia. (Xinhua/Gao Lei)

WINDHOEK, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Namibia has abandoned the winter time switch in favor of summer time all year round, following the gazetting of the Namibia Time Act 2017, the information ministry said on Thursday.

Namibia will now have one standard time throughout the year in line with major trading partner South Africa.

Businesses in support of repealing the old Namibian Time Act of 1994 had argued that Namibia loses a lot of business as it operates outside normal business hours with the rest of the region, especially South Africa, an important trading partner.

The Namibian Employers' Federation (NEF) argued that about 80 percent of the companies it engaged showed that workers were in favor of returning to GMT +2 hours all year round in line with South Africa and other countries in the region.

The impact of the winter time change is said to be an estimated loss of four business hours daily, according to findings from public consultations.

The old Namibian Time Act of 1994 states that during the summer period the time be set two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time, and then be shifted one hour ahead for the winter period.

"In accordance with the new Act, Namibian Time Act, 2017, there will be no time change as from the first Sunday of April 2018. This means the standard time of Namibia is two hours in advance of the Greenwich Mean Time," a statement from the information ministry said.