The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Ghana, Dr Angela Lusigi, has disclosed that in view of the current global Covid-19 pandemic, Africa should resort to insurance and risk financing to aid the continent’s economic recovery.

She further stated that while disaster risks are on the rise, there is a resulting huge protection gap within developing economies, where less than five percent of disaster losses were covered by insurance. Hence the need for the insurers to intervene.

“COVID-19 has exposed our vulnerability, and I believe insurance and risk finance is one of the tools available to us in supporting society to build back better.”
Dr Angela Lusigi

The UNDP’s Resident Representative in Ghana called on stakeholders in the insurance industry to create accessible and affordable insurance solutions to build resilience in the face of increasing disaster risks.

Dr. Lusigi made this disclosure during the UNDP’s stakeholder workshop on a ‘Diagnostic Report for Inclusive Insurance and Risk Financing in Ghana’.

The report identified the current state and opportunities in the inclusive insurance and risk finance environment in Ghana.

Dr Lusigi stated that the workshop was intended to seek suggestions from stakeholders in insurance industry on how to ensure that people had access to inclusive insurance and financing.

The public, having the right access to inclusive insurance and risk financing, has a participatory role to play in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Dr. Lusigi disclosed.

“How we deal with and respond to disasters is critical in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”
Dr Angela Lusigi

She futher stated that, “it is estimated that the potential market for inclusive insurance alone is at least 4 billion people, representing a protection gap of quite staggering proportions”.

“Increasing affordable access to insurance and risk financing has a critical role to play in delivering the SDGs and reducing the impact of weather, climate induced disasters on development.”
Dr Angela Lusigi

Insurance for all

Dr Geraldine Abaidoo, an insurance Consultant, stated that the primary aim of inclusive insurance is to provide insurance to all, especially the vulnerable.

According to the ‘Diagnostic Report for Inclusive Insurance and Risk Financing in Ghana’, Dr. Abaidoo disclosed that some 70 percent of people (respondents) who were not under insurance coverage.

The Consultant revealed that the result from the report depicts that the insurance packages are inadequate for such people and could not meet their never-ending needs.

“The basic needs of inclusive insurance that the UNDP is advocating is to ensure insurance packages are fashioned to the needs of the people, particularly those in informal sector.”
Dr Geraldine Abaidoo

In the meantime, at the recent inauguration of the newly reconstituted Board of the Reinsurance Company Limited (Ghana Re), the Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr. John Kumah urged the Board to work collaboratively with the National Insurance Commission (NIC), to implement prudent measures that will enhance Ghana’s insurance attractiveness.

Meanwhile, as the world takes an acute turn from the Covid-19 nightmare, insurance professionals from McKinsey & Company also disclosed that there is the need for “insurers to rethink their supply chains and the way they collaborate with service providers”.

The McKinsey & Company’s experts further hinted on the need to assimilate technology and its capabilities in the insurance service delivery, so as to reach the unserved and underserved within the insurance ecosystem.