Rwandan insurance sector is well capitalised and profitable despite the low penetration rate of below 10 percent for middle income countries, recent data shows. Rwanda is projected to be among middle income countries by the year 2020.“The insurance sector is developing as depicted by insurance penetration which is about 2.3 percent though still less than 10 percent for middle income economies,” a recent monetary policy statement said.The country’s insurance sector rose by 12.1 percent reaching Rwf143.7 billion by the end of last year from Rwf128 billion as of December 2010, according to the statement.“Gross premium increased as well as net profit. The growth is attributed to the boom in the Rwandan economy,” Central Bank Governor Amb. Claver Gatete, stated while presenting the monetary policy statement last week.The industry faces a shortage of skilled people with lack of public awareness cited being among the major challenges undermining the growth of Rwanda’s insurance sector, according to the Central Bank.Recently, Joy Ntare, central bank’s Director of Non Bank Financial Institutions told the Business Times that lack of public awareness is attributed to limited marketing by insurers and low level of insurance literacy among the public. In collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, the insurers’ association submitted their input on how the campaign would be conducted. “We have our input and insurance companies will be part of the campaign to educate the public on how to reduce the risks of accidents especially road accidents among primary pupils,” Bernardin Kubwimana, the Executive Secretary of the Insurers Association told The Business Times.Insurance companies hope to educate the public on various insurance products, get their views on how claims should be paid and how rural community can be catered for.The financial literacy campaign targets to challenge financial exclusions, where only 22 percent have access to financial services.A larger percentage of the population, however, is aware of the benefits of ‘general insurance’ products, particularly ‘motor insurance’ which the law requires vehicle owners to have.There are eight players in the Rwandan insurance industry of which four offer both general or ‘non-life’ insurance and life or ‘long-term’ businesses. One industry player is solely non- life insurance and three are exclusively medical. African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) recently pledged to attract investments in the country by partnering with local insurance companies to re- insure big projects after putting up shop in Kigali, which it intends to use as a gateway to Burundi .
