CAIRO: Net profits of the Egyptian insurance companies surged significantly to LE 2.73 billion during the fiscal year 2006, or up 46.6 percent from LE 1.86 billion a year earlier. Elhamy El-Kady, the General Secretary of the Insurance Federation of Egypt, attributed the upsurge in profits to exceptional revenues from the sale of insurance companies' stakes in privatized companies. He added that the insurance industry holds about LE 4.3 billion worth of securities, including LE 1.97 billion offered for sale according to the consolidated balance sheet of December 31, 2006. He pointed out that insurance companies increased their investments in 2006 by nearly LE 1.9 billion compared with LE 1.3 billion in 2005. Egyptian actuary Saad Al-Saeed said the increase in investments, however, remained weak due to low level of insurance awareness among individuals and institutions. "This has been reflected by the declining rate of growth in total premiums on personal and non-life insurance to 7 percent in 2006 compared with 12.8 percent a year ago, he argued.
