The Insurance Federation of Egypt (IFE) revealed that the average per capita spending on insurance in Egypt reached $16, making it rank 85th globally. The IFE presented the results of a report by Swiss Re Institute`s research portfolio sigma, based on preliminary data, that African life insurance premiums stagnated in 2017, after a decline of 1.0% in 2016. African life insurance premiums reached $45bn in 2017, accounting for 1.7% of total global premiums, according to the report. The report explained that a number of markets in Africa have seen continuous healthy to strong growth in 2017, such as Uganda (18%), Cote d ́Ivoire (12%), Namibia (12%), Egypt (9.7%), and Algeria (6 %). On the other hand, in Kenya (5.1%) and Morocco (3.1%), growth has weakened considerably, as the sales of savings products has eased. On the other hand, a number of markets declined sharply, such as Zimbabwe (-3.7%), Nigeria (-20%), and Mozambique (-39%). Concerning non-life insurance in Africa, the report stated that it reached $22bn in 2017, while in terms of Egypt, it benefited from economic reforms and its reviving economy in Egypt (9.9%), in Uganda (7.3%), in Zimbabwe (7.5%), in Ghana (5.0%), and Morocco (3.0%). Meanwhile, global insurance premiums continued to rise in 2017, with emerging markets leading the way, to reach $4.892tn, up from $4.703tn in 2016, according to the report. "Global life premiums increased only marginally by 0.5% to reach $2657bn in 2017, an increase of 1.4% compared to 2016," according to the report. On the other hand, global non-life insurance premiums increased 2.8% to record $2234bn in 2017. Finally, the IFE assured that the Egyptian insurance sector ranks fourth in Africa in terms of the sector activity growth rates, which reached nearly 9.7% in 2017. The IFE believes that these global expectations are in line with the federation's plan to develop micro-insurance and agricultural insurance, and expand life insurance and medical care, as well as various civil liability products. Alaa El- Zoheiry, chairperson of IFE and managing director of Arab Misr Insurance Group (GIG), told Daily News Egypt earlier that the IFE put a four-year plan that focuses on developing the industry and people's skills. This is in addition to increasing the volume of the premiums and raising the insurance awareness, as well as holding many seminars and conferences. The IFE, in cooperation with the FRA, targets to double the volume of the premiums in the Egyptian insurance market within a period of three years. Moreover, the IFE seeks with the FRA to find compulsory insurance products that suit people's needs, such as the premiums of the professional mistakes.
