ISLAMABAD: The insurance sector grew nearly 22 per cent last year even though its penetration — the ratio of premiums to GDP — stayed at a paltry 0.91pc, a new report showed on Friday.

‘The Insurance Industry Statistics for 2021,’ the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan’s (SECP) first report on the sector, said gross premiums jumped to Rs432 billion in 2021 from Rs355bn a year ago, a growth of 21.7pc.

The size of paid claims rose from Rs170bn to Rs189bn, of which Rs136bn was paid by life insurance and Rs53bn by non-life insurance companies.

The number of policies stood at Rs10.1 million by the end of 2021, including 8m in the life insurance and family takaful segment and 2.1m in the non-life insurance and window takaful segment.

Insurance density — the ratio of gross premiums to the country’s population — stood at Rs2,084, the report said.

As of Dec 31, 2021, the insurance industry had 41 active operators, including 30 non-life insurers/general takaful operators, 10 life insurers/family takaful operators and one reinsurer.

The number of complaints also jumped, the report showed, as the sector received 10,297 complaints in 2021 compared to 8,254 a year ago. However, it also disposed of more complaints: 10,182 vs 8,086.

Of the total gross premiums of the non-life industry, 56pc came from Sindh, followed by 35pc from by Punjab, 7pc from Islamabad, whereas Balochistan, KP, GB and AJK each had a share of less than one per cent.

“As the data clearly demonstrates, Pakistan’s insurance market holds enormous untapped potential for growth,” SECP Commis­s­ioner Sadia Khan said in her remarks in the report.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2022