Give insurance coverage priority

A recent monetary policy statement put insurance penetration in the country at 2.3 percent, after a 12.3 percentage growth last year. The growth was largely attributed to a general boom in the economy.Nonetheless, the country’s insurance penetration remains far below the average for middle-income countries – 10 percent - a target Rwanda aims to achieve by 2020.This might seem an ambitious target considering the current statistics. But the trends we have witnessed over the recent past, it is something that can be achieved if the public is adequately sensitized about the need for insurance cover – both life and general insurance.Actors in the insurance industry need to step up their public campaigns, repackage their various products and reach the uninsured communities wherever in the country they may be.They also need to ease the mode of payment for premiums to make it more convenient and attractive to families with modest incomes.Furthermore, the target should not only be the envisaged 10 percent coverage by 2020; strategies should focus on how best Rwandans can subscribe to as various insurance products as possible.Across Africa, insurance penetration is still very low. It is, therefore, important that the strategies that will come out of the ongoing Annual General Assembly of the African National Insurance Companies, in Kigali, are implemented to the letter.

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Give insurance coverage priority