Yemisi Izuora
Nigeria is 5th biggest insurance market in Africa with overall market share of 85 percent of premium.
General-Secretary of the African Insurance Organization, AIO, Ms Prisca Soares said while addressing a press conference after the launching of the second Africa Insurance Barometer at the 44th AIO Conference and General Assembly in Kampala, Uganda that insurance market in the continent was still dominated by South Africa.
The other major markets, she mentioned, include Morocco, Egypt, Kenya and Nigeria while the top five markets account for 85 percent of the total premiums.
Kenya grew fastest in 2015 achieving a compound annual growth rate of slightly more than 10 percent from 2011 – 2015 Soares said, “With a volume of US$46 billion, representing 72 percent of the total insurance premiums in the continent, South Africa is still by far Africa’s largest insurance e market.” Of the five major markets, South Africa tops the list followed by Kenya, Morocco and Egypt while Nigeria ranked fifth on the list.
“The Africa Insurance Barometer provides a comprehensive overview of the current state and future prospects of the US$ 64 billion African insurance market,” she said, stressing that lack of insurance awareness and trust were the main factors contributing to the lacklustre performance in most of the markets.
“Only South Africa is on par at 1.9 per cent and 2.0 per cent. Kenya and Morocco have higher non-life insurance penetration levels than could be expected, based on their economic development.
Insurance market development in both countries is facilitated by advanced and well-respected regulatory and supervisory authorities.” She expressed optimism that Africa’s insurance penetration, which currently stands at 2.9 per cent or less than half of the global average, will translate into accelerated premium growth –provided global demand and commodity prices continue to bounce back in 2017