2023-10-23 10:58:04
Financial inclusion in Tunisia faces major challenges, particularly with regard to insurance. A revealing finding highlights the crucial importance of insurance in strengthening this inclusion.
As part of the 25e session of the international “Reality” forum, Skander Naija, general director of AMI Assurances, highlighted the crucial role of insurance in financial inclusion in Tunisia. During his intervention, he highlighted the challenges and opportunities that present themselves in a country seeking increased financial inclusion and highlighted the need to recognize the essential role of insurance in the entire landscape Tunisian financier.
Insurance, a forgotten pillar of financial inclusion
Naija welcomed the initiative to integrate insurance into the broad area of financial inclusion, marking a significant step towards a more comprehensive understanding of finance in Tunisia. He also highlighted how common it is to overlook the crucial role of insurance in the financial sector. “In reality, insurance is not limited to the simple protection of property and people. It is of particular importance in the security of economic actors and contributes to the facilitation of financing,” he indicated.
He added that Tunisia is currently lagging behind in the insurance sector, with relatively low penetration rates, while the insurance penetration rate is a key indicator of the state of development. of a country, calculated by dividing the turnover of insurers by the GDP. Worldwide, this rate averages 7%, a significant portion of which is attributed to non-life insurance, covering assets such as vehicles, real estate and liability. In Tunisia, this rate is around 2%, well below the world average.
Life insurance, which is of particular importance to individuals preparing for their financial future, is also lagging behind. Internationally, the life insurance penetration rate is 4%, while in Tunisia it only reaches 0.5%. This means that considerable efforts are needed to close the gap between Tunisia and global insurance standards.
What obstacles?
According to Skander Naija, several major challenges hinder the goal of increased financial inclusion in Tunisia. One of them is the need for increased communication and education to explain to individuals the importance of insurance. A perfectible image of the insurance industry, linked to its administrative complexity, must also be addressed.
“The problem of access to insurance is acute for unbanked people, who represent half of the population. This requires innovative solutions, such as legislation allowing microfinance institutions to sell insurance at an affordable cost. This paves the way for financial accessibility for a large part of the population, while ensuring economic viability,” he stressed. In this same context, he added that the future of Tunisia and its economy also rests on resolving the challenge of insurability of certain risks. For example, natural disasters, in the absence of sufficient data, remain difficult to insure. It is therefore imperative to work on the collection and analysis of data to enable coverage of these risks.
Financial inclusion: a national quest
Ultimately, financial inclusion in Tunisia relies in part on the ability of the insurance sector to overcome these obstacles. Through increased awareness, improved communication practices, affordable access solutions and comprehensive data collection, Tunisia can hope to reach global levels in this area.
“Insurance, as a pillar of protection for individuals and the national economy, plays a central role in this evolution,” he affirmed, before adding that financial inclusion in Tunisia is a quest national which requires joint efforts of the insurance industry, government and civil society. Broader financial inclusion not only strengthens economic stability, but it also contributes to improving the quality of life of the Tunisian population.
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