The Federal Government has proposed N15 billion for the payment of insurance premium of employees in its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the current fiscal year.
This is even as N181.19 billion had also been provided in the 2018 Appropriation Bill for the payment of pensions and gratuities of retired and retiring public servants during the year.
The President, Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, Mrs. Funmi Babington-Ashaye, made these disclosures during the Institute’s business outlook seminar held in Lagos.
The theme of the seminar is ‘Economic Policies of The Government In 2018: Issues, Challenges and Prospects For The Insurance Industry.’
She explained that given the projected expenditures in the current year, the tendency for the insurance sector to improve its performance remained positive and charged practitioners to explore opportunities that may come with the increased public expenditure as proposed.
She said: “Considering the fact that the government has allocated N181.19bn to the payment of pensions and gratuities of public servants, while N15bn has also been set aside to meet the MDAs’ life assurance premium obligations, the insurance sector should experience increased business momentum.
“On the whole, the insurance industry, in my view, has more to cheer from the budget. In other words, the business outlook for the insurance industry is mixed but very promising. As players and risk managers, we need to open our inner minds and take those business decisions that will help us to reposition the industry in the unfolding 2018 business year”, Babington-Ashaye added.
She explained that the proposed 2018 budget having huge gap between projected revenue and expenditures, the implications for government in meeting the objectives of the budget would require it to borrow from local and international sources to bridge the budget gap.
