The Nigerian insurance industry rose by 8.01 percent in 2021, compared to a negative growth rate of 13.29 percent in 2020, figures obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) have shown.
The NBS, in its Gross Domestic Product report for the fourth quarter of 2021, said the insurance industry was the reason for 7.82 percent of the finance sector.
According to the report, the underwriting industry recorded negative growth of 2.08 percent in the first quarter of 2021. It, however, grew by 16.41 percent, 7.86 percent, and 13.61 percent in the second, third, and fourth quarters of 2021.
The NBS said, “The finance and insurance sector consists of the two subsectors, financial institutions and insurance, which accounted for 92.18 percent and 7.82 percent of the sector respectively in real terms in Q4 2021.
“As a whole, the sector grew at 24.92 percent in nominal terms (year-on-year), with the growth rate of financial institutions as 25.99 percent and 13.61per cent growth rate recorded for insurance.
“The overall rate was higher than that in Q4 2020 by 26.02 percent points and lower by 1.54 percent points than the preceding quarter. Quarter-on-quarter growth was 25.34 percent, while the annual growth rate stood at 11.88 percent in 2021.
“The sector’s contribution to the overall nominal GDP was 3.10 percent in Q4 2021, higher than the 2.80 percent it represented a year previous, and higher from the contribution of 2.70 percent it made in the preceding quarter.
“Growth in this sector in real terms totaled 24.14 percent, higher by 27.76 percent points from the rate recorded in the 2020 fourth quarter and up by 0.90 percent points from the rate recorded in the preceding quarter.
“Quarter on quarter growth in real terms stood at 26.99 percent, while annual growth was 10.07 percent in 2021.”
The report stated that the contribution of finance and insurance to real GDP totaled 3.66 percent, higher than the contribution of 3.07 percent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020 by 0.59 percent points, and higher than 3.16 percent recorded in Q3 2021 by 0.50 percent points.
A recent report released by the National Insurance Commission revealed that Nigerian insurance companies earned N630.36bn in 2021. The Head, Corporate Communications and Market Development, NAICOM, Rassaq Salami, released this in its unaudited result for 2021.
According to the commission, this was an increase from the audited figure of N514bn premium earned in 2020. NAICOM said the total assets of the underwriting companies were N2.14tn while net claims paid was N238.05bn in 2021.
