Kuwait: Insurance market set to expand by 30% this year
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Jul 2017
Total premiums in Kuwait are forecast to rise by 30% in the current year on the back of growth in medical insurance.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) has announced plans to require foreign visitors and workers, numbering around three million, to purchase local health insurance policies that would give them access to expat-only hospitals and clinics.
In addition, in the second half of last year, the Ministry awarded a health insurance contract worth KWD82 million (US$370.2 million) for a year, covering 107,000 retirees registered in the social insurance system.
In the short term, however, the profitability of Kuwait’s insurers might be affected because some insurers might not have sufficient data to price the new business appropriately, reported El Methaq citing industry sources.
Other challenges facing the industry include an outdated 1961 insurance law.
Insurers are calling for a review of tariff rates, some of which have remained unchanged for years. In particular, there are demands for changes to motor third-party liability insurance tariffs, with insurers burdened by increases in the cost of motor spare parts and repairs as well as huge compensations awarded by the courts.
Direct premiums written in the domestic insurance market rose by 7.4% to about KWD347 million last year. Compensation claims grew by 4.1% to KWD222 million last year compared to KWD213 million in 2015. M
KWD1 = US$3.29