WINDHOEK, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Namibia recorded its worst new vehicle sales with a monthly decline of 38.2 percent in December 2018, according to a report on Tuesday.
Investment research firm Simonis Storm Securities (SSS) said in the report that on an annual basis, the decline wiped out a positive growth of 12 percent recorded in November 2018, retaining its contraction of 12.3 percent to 732 units in December 2018.
The total aggregated number of vehicle sales declined by 9.9 percent to 11,998 units, above their estimate of a 12.5 percent contraction in 2018, SSS experts said.
According to the firm, strain in the vehicle space is reinforced by sluggish consumer spending and contracting installment credit growth during the year under review.
"The decline in December can be ascribed to extra heavy commercial vehicles, light commercial vehicles, medium commercial vehicles, passenger and heavy commercial vehicles, that noticed an annual drop," the report added.
Meanwhile, the research firm expects total vehicle sales to contract by 4.2 percent in 2019 mainly on the back of a continuous decline in borrowing through installment credit.
"We do expect some relieve to come through in the second quarter 2019 as new models enter the market," SSS added.
