By BUUMBA CHIMBULU
THE new insurance bill will be enacted in the first half of next year, Finance Minister, Bwalya Ng’andu, has said.
Dr Ng’andu said it was possible to enact the new insurance bill in the first quarter of 2021.
The Minister promised that he would help the industry by pushing for the enactment of the new Insurance Bill.
He was speaking in Lusaka during the Insurers Association of Zambia (IAZ) Chief Executive Officer’s Cocktail.
With reference to Marine Insurance, Dr Ng’andu assured the industry players that any matter which was resulting in revenue loss to the Government would receive his ardent attention.
Dr Ng’andu stressed the need to enforce section 120 of the Insurance that demands for local assets to be insured locally, as a way to curb revenue loss to the treasury.
Pensions and Insurance Authority (PIA) acting Registrar, Tresford Chiyavula, indicated that the sector had not been spared from the adverse effect of the Covid -19 Pandemic.
Mr Chiyavula said the process of licence renewals for 2021 was in progress and that those Insurance companies that had issued that need to be cleared before the licence is issued have been communicated to.
IAZ president, Christabel Banda, explained that the bill once enacted would help address a lot of bottlenecks in the provision of the Insurance service in the country.
Ms Banda also reported to the Minister that the insurance industry and the Zambian economy, is losing millions of Kwacha every year through the payment of insurance premiums on imports.
She explained that these come into the Country on a Cost Freight and Insurance basis (CIF), instead of importing on an FOB basis, while exports go out of the country on a Free on Board (FOB) basis.
Zambia lost over K2 billion between 2009 and 2019 because of this practice.
Ms Banda indicated the full support of IAZ members towards the implementation of the RTSA online Road Tax System. The system requires that motor vehicle insurance should be confirmed by insurers making an electronic submission of all insured vehicles, before road tax can be issued.
