Azernews.Az

BAKU – Tangible development has been observed in Azerbaijan’s insurance market in recent years, Finance Minister Samir Sharifov has said.

Sharifov told an international insurance forum in Baku on Thursday that the capital stock of insurance companies operating in the country has surged nearly eight-fold since 2003 – from 18.4 million manats to 150 million manats (about $190 million).

Chingiz Mehdiyev, steering board chairman of AzRe Tekrarsighorta reinsurance firm, said insurance fees totaling 108m manats ($136m) were collected in January-May, and another 110m manats ($139m) is to be collected by the end of 2011.

Mehdiyev added that the domestic market is projected to grow 12 percent this year.

28 insurance firms and one reinsurance company are operating in Azerbaijan.

Oleg Doronceanu, a representative of Romania’s Media XPRIMM firm researching insurance markets in CIS and Europe, said regarding the company’s estimates on Azerbaijan drawn up in 2009 and 2010 that insurance fees per capita equal 17.1 euros in the country. In the entire CIS, he said, the lowest figure was reported in Kyrgyzstan where it is 1.6 euros, while the most insurances fees are paid in Russia – 183 euros.

European countries are far ahead of CIS states on the amount of insurance fees per capita - 1,000 to 1,100 euros.

According to Doronceanu, Azerbaijani insurance accounts for 4.1 percent of the CIS market. The share of Russia, which has the biggest insurance market in CIS, is a staggering 88 pct. The country is followed by Ukraine and Kazakhstan, while the total share of the other countries is only 1.1 pct.

The goal of the two-day international forum is to brief participants on the changes taking place in Azerbaijan’s insurance market and the ongoing integration in the world insurance market. Attendees of the forum, the second event of this kind, will also exchange experience, hold business meetings and work to expand partnerships.