Insurance sector rebounces, records 8.29% growth 11th September 2023

The insurance sector returned to a growth path after expanding by 8.29% in the second quarter of 2023, according to latest figures obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Figures obtained by The PUNCH on the economic performance revealed that the sector had earlier suffered a setback of 7.25 per cent contraction in the first quarter of the year, due to challenges from cash crunch crisis that emanated from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s naira redesign policy.

The NBS’s second quarter GDP report stated that, “The finance and insurance sector consists of the two subsectors, financial institutions, and insurance, in which the former accounted for 90.78 per cent and the latter 9.22 per cent of the sector respectively in real terms in Q2 2023.

“As a whole, the sector grew at 28 per cent in nominal terms (year-on-year), with the growth rate of financial institutions at 30.41 per cent and 8.29 per cent growth rate recorded for insurance.

“The overall rate was lower than Q2, 2022 by 1.90 per cent points, and higher by 5.63 per cent points than the preceding quarter.”

According to the report obtained by The PUNCH, the quarter-on-quarter growth fell by 0.83 per cent.

The sector’s contribution to the nominal GDP was 4.01 per cent in Q2 2023, higher than the 3.63 per cent it represented a year previous, and lower than the contribution of 4.11 per cent it made in the preceding quarter.

It stated that, “Growth in this sector in real terms totalled 26.84 per cent, higher by 8.37 per cent points from the rate recorded in the 2022 second quarter and higher by 5.47 per cent points from the rate recorded in the preceding quarter.

“Quarter-on-quarter growth in real terms stood at -1.72 per cent. The contribution of Finance and Insurance to real GDP totalled 5.26 per cent, higher than the contribution of 4.25 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2022 by 1.01 per cent points, and lower than 5.35 per cent recorded in Q1, 2023 by 0.08 per cent points.