Baku, Azerbaijan, June 19
By Zulfiyya Qurbanova - Trend:
A total amount of Azerbaijani insurance companies' premiums is expected to reach one percent of the country's GDP, chairman of the Azerbaijani parliamentary committee on economic policy Ziyad Samadzade said while opening the fifth Azerbaijan International Insurance Forum in Baku on June 19.
Currently, the share of insurance premiums in the country's GDP is 0.8 percent.
A total amount of the insurance companies' premiums in the country amounted to 186.9 million manats in January-May 2014, which is 10.8 percent (18.2 million manats) more than in the same period of last year. The amount of insurance companies' payments in the first five months of 2014 amounted to 55.2 million manats, which is 13 percent (6.3 million manats) more than in January-May 2013.
"I hope that the country's insurance market in the future will reach $1 billion," Samadzade said.
"The insurance sector is a very important segment of the Azerbaijani economy," he said. "Holding this forum in Azerbaijan is not accidental."
"Azerbaijan is one of the few countries in the world, which economy continued developing steadily in the period of the global financial and economic crisis," he said. "Currently, investment opportunities and efficiency of the country's economy are being increased."
"The Azerbaijani insurance market has increased six-fold for the last eight years thanks to the legal framework that meets international standards," he added.
"A decrease in the dependence of the national economy on the oil sector creates favorable conditions for the development of the insurance market," he added. "The development of medical and agricultural insurance is important today."
The official exchange rate is 0.7843 AZN/USD on June 19.
edited by CN