The Association of Insurance Companies in Lebanon (ACAL) released its quarterly report on the performance of the Lebanese insurance sector, conveying a 5.89% annual drop in written insurance premiums to $822.81 million in the first half of 2020, down from $874.29 million in the same period in 2019. Said drop is mainly attributed to a 22% drop in each of the workmen insurance and cargo insurance premiums, coupled with a 14% contraction in life insurance premiums, a 13% dip in motor insurance premiums and a 2% decrease in fire insurance premiums, which altogether outweighed the 8% increase in medical insurance premiums. Concurrently, the report uncovered a rise in the share of non-life insurance premiums to 75.1% in the first six months of 2020, from 72.8% in the same period in 2019. On the other hand, the share of life insurance premiums narrowed to 24.9% of total written premiums, from 27.2% in the first half of 2019.

“Medical Insurance Premiums” constituted the lion’s share (42.4%) of total written premiums, followed by “Life Insurance” (24.9%), “Motor Insurance” (17.8%), and “Fire Insurance” (7.1%) only to name a few. In parallel, the report indicated that insurance indemnities paid on policyholders’ claims soared by 8.39% y-o-y to just above $531 million as at the end of the first half of 2020, with “Medical Claims” and “Life Claims” accounting for 41.0% and 36.2% of total insurance claims on a respective basis, followed by “Motor” (14.1%) claims among others.