A boost for insurance in the Middle East

ENAR

The market has rich potential. Here is what is needed to get it going. When one looks at financial services in the Arab World, there is one sector that stands out for its lack of development: Insurance. While investments and loans are now commonplace across the region, insurance has yet to achieve the same level of penetration. On average, insurance premiums represent only about 1% of gross domestic product in the Middle East, versus as much as 4% in other emerging markets and 9% in more industrialized countries. The situation for life insurance is even worse. The low penetration of insurance in the Middle East points to the magnitude of the opportunity, especially given the above-average economic growth of the region, its young population, and ongoing political changes. Those changes include the requirement, in many countries, that consumers carry auto and health insurance. Government privatization programs will also fuel the