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Dr. John Steytler has been announced as substantive CEO of the Development Bank of Namibia. He will replace outgoing CEO Martin Inkumbi with effect from 1 September 2023.

The Board of the Development Bank of Namibia has announced the appointment of Dr John Steytler as the incoming Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with effect from 1 September 2023, for a period of 5 years. Steytler, a trained economist, emerged successful after a protracted independent recruitment process. 

Steytler is currently the GIZ Namibia Project Leader of the Sustainable Development Goals Initiative. Prior to that, he was the Economic Advisor to the President of the Republic of Namibia. He established Namibia’s first National Statistics Office and served for 4 years as the founding Statistician General at the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA). He has a wealth of domestic and international experience in the public and private sectors with special focus on macroeconomics and international economics.

As Head of Research and Chief Economist at the Bank of Namibia, Steytler pioneered the formalization of Namibia’s Monetary Policy Framework and oversaw a number of important research papers with significant impact on the Namibian financial system, such as optimal utilization of Namibia’s large contractual savings pool for local economic development and the development of the Namibia Financial Sector Charter. He thus has a deep understanding of the socio-economic development trajectory of Namibia, including the associated challenges and opportunities.

The Board Chairperson, Mr. Sarel van Zyl, expressed confidence in and support for the incoming CEO, and wished him well as he comes to champion the strategic direction of the Bank with the help of DBN’s executives. 

“I expect Dr Steytler and his executive team to play a significant role in the recovery and future development of the Namibian Economy and its people,” said Van Zyl.