Govt pledges to support  insurance Bill

Tue, 20 Jun 2017 13:52:45 +0000

By BUUMBA CHIMBULU

GOVERNMENT will support the enactment of the New Insurance Bill to enable the industry double its contribution to the economy to more than 1.5 percent, says Minister of Finance, Felix Mutati.

Mr Mutati said Government was concerned with the low contribution of the insurance sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country which was below 1.5 percent.

“Government will support you in the insurance Bill to grow the sector and double the GDP contributions. This Bill is one step from now. We want the sector to perform like the banking industry,” he said.

He was speaking in Livingstone at the 2017 insurance conference held under the theme “Bouncing Back from Hard Times”.

Mr Mutati said Government expected the insurance sector to reciprocate by creating affordable products such as macro-insurance, saying savings from the sector could be used to grow the economy.

He also challenged the insurers to create confidence in the industry by meeting their clients’ claims.

“The inability to meet claims remains a concern to us. Let us meet claims and encourage people to take up insurance,” he said.

Meanwhile, Insurance Association of Zambia (IAZ) president, Paul Nkhoma, said the sector was usually one of the worst affected sectors when there was turbulence in the economy.

Mr Nkhoma said the theme of the conference signified the industry’s resolve to generate ideas that guaranteed a stronger and more viable sector after the recent economic downturn.

He said the industry provided a stabilizing effect to the economy as other sectors were recovering from the downturn.

And Pensions Insurance (PIA) registrar, Martin Libinga, said the authority had been working on micro insurance regulations which could not be issued because there was no enabling provision in the current Act.

He also said the authority would be working with other stakeholders to develop the provisions of micro-pensions to assist people save for their retirement.