Best’s Report on Latin America Insurance Market Highlights Growth

A newly issued report from A.M. Best cites Inter­national Monetary Fund (IMF) statistics, showing that “Latin American countries had an estimated population of 581 million in 2012 and a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of $5.4 trillion.”

In addition the IMF said the economy in the region “grew approximately 3.0 percent in 2012 compared with 4.0 percent in 2011.” However the report also notes that “economic conditions and growth rates vary widely among countries in the region.”

Best reported that Latin America’s “growing economies and the resulting decline in poverty are increas­ing the demand for insurance products and services. That, combined with relatively low returns on investment in mature economies, has increased the interest from global insurance and reinsurance providers toward entering Latin American markets.”

The report points out that economic growth in recent years “has led to a significant reduction in the level of extreme poverty in many Latin American countries. According to World Bank data, people living below $4 per day declined from 243 million in 2002 (or about 43 percent of the population) to 160 million in 2010 (or about 27 percent of the total population) and further improvement is anticipated.”

Best’s report “summarizes insurance markets, top companies, balance sheet data and economic conditions by country. Except where otherwise indicated, all financial data has been obtained from the individual country’s insurance regulator.

“Original currency data has been translated to USD at exchange rates existing on Dec. 31, 2012. For pur­poses of this report, accident and health premiums are included within life business.”

Source: A.M. Best

Topics Trends Market