Uzbekistan’s insurance market expands

Uzbekistan’s insurance market, one of the most attractive in terms of investment purposes, has seen collected premiums per capita increase by 28.8% over the past 10 years, while the ratio of premiums to GDP increased from 0.22% in 2010 to 0.37% in 2020, which remains low and has good growth potential, according to report compiled by Avesta Investment Group.

In Kazakhstan, the share of insurance in GDP is about 0.82%, and about 1.44% in Russia.

Karen Srapionov, a partner of Avesta Investment Group said that economic reforms and low penetration of insurance services have made this segment very opportunistic for the new and existing players, with the number of companies expanding by more than one-third since 2018.

The market has also seen new products, as life insurance, medical insurance, reforms are under way in the mandatory medical insurance system.

The government is also considering the insurance market as a good source of funding for the local capital market, nevertheless, insurers require higher liquidity on the market.

Collected premiums in 2020 amounted to $208,682 or by 4.3% lower than in 2019, mainly due to a significant decrease in life insurance collections by 43%.  However, premiums collected in 1Q 2021 expanded by 33% y/y to $63.1mn. 

Uzbekinvest Export Import Insurance Company was the market leader in terms of collected premiums. Its share in total premiums accounted for 11.9%. In terms of paid claims, it was placed fourth, occupying 7% of the market.

Total investment portfolio of insurance companies currently stays at $312mn, according to the report.