A recent report issued by the Arab Insurance Group has revealed that the residents of the Arabian Gulf states spend an annual sum of $74.4 per capita. The report, published in Akhbar Alkhaleej daily, showed also that these citizens spend more on insurance services than in any other Arab state.
According to the report, the typical Qatari resident spends an annual $277 on insurance. In the UAE, the average amounts to $244, while the average Bahraini spends $203 on yearly insurance services. In Kuwait, however, this figure is only $98.
The average spending on these services amounts to $19.4 per capita in the North African (Maghreb) states, and $13.8 in the Mashreq states. Thus, the average annual spending on insurance services in the entire Arab world is $21.7 per capita.
The value of overall subscribed insurance installments in the Arab world had grown from $4.4 billion in 1994 to $5.7 billion in 1998, constituting an average 6.5 percent annual growth rate. This trend is generally attributed to the increasingly liberalized economies and reforms in these states.
The contribution of the insurance sector to the GDP in the Arab world ranges from 0.7 percent to 2.8 percent.
The Arab insurance market consists of 367 firms, of which 91.3 percent are local companies, and 8.7 percent are foreign companies. –(Albawaba-MEBG)
