Completion of a national forest inventory enabled development of preliminary forest resource accounts for Namibia in 2004. Total woody resources volume for Namibia was an estimated 257 million m3. Forest use for fuel, poles, timber, and non-timber forest products, was included in the accounts. Charcoal production on private land was excluded. Current forest use resulted in direct contribution to the gross national product (GNP) of N$1billion (US$160million), some 3% of GNP. Total direct and indirect economic impact of forest use in the broader economy was some N$1.8billion (US$288million). Namibia's standing forest assets were estimated to have a capital value of N$19billion (US$304million), comparable with values for fish, minerals and wildlife. At national level stocks are underutilised, but some localised over-harvesting occurs. Over-harvesting might be ameliorated through community forest management and trade in products. Capture of resource rent by government should be restricted to commercial forest use activities. Keywords: forests, use value, asset value, resource accounts, Namibia.