NITF presents National Natural Disaster Insurance Scheme at Poland conference
View(s):Sri Lanka’s National Natural Disaster Insurance Scheme (NNDIS) was one of the main topics taken up at this year’s second “InsuResilience” Global Partnership Forum which took place in Katowice, Poland, during the UN Climate Conference (COp 24) earlier this month.
Sanath C. de Silva, CEO, NITF, speaking at the Poland conference.
On December 10, the National Insurance Trust Fund (NITF) participated at this forum held on the theme “Paving the way to effective risk financing solutions”. The forum is the annual meeting of the InsuResilience Global Partnership for Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance Solutions (IGP).
The two co-chairs of the InsuResilience Global Partnership High-Level Consultative Group – Brenson Wase, Minister of Finance of the Republic of the Marshall Islands and Dr Maria Flachsbarth, Parliamentary State Secretary to the German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), graced the occasion which was well attended by over two hundred representatives of InsuResilience member institutions, including the European Union, according to a media release from the NITF.
Approaches to promote climate and disaster risk finance and insurance solutions in Pakistan, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Zambia and West Africa were discussed in five different sessions. During the Sri Lanka session, Barbara Schnell (KfW Sector Policy Director) invited representatives of the NITF and representatives of the insurance sector to discuss innovative solutions to better protect the most vulnerable segment of the population of Sri Lanka against the consequences of climate change through the national insurance scheme.
It is now globally recognised that Sri Lanka is one of the five countries most heavily affected by natural disasters. In 2016, the Government of Sri Lanka established the National Natural Disaster Insurance Scheme (NNDIs) to protect its uninsured population against natural disasters. Since its inception, the NNDIS has faced major sustainability challenges.
At the Sri Lanka session, Sanath De Silva, CEO, NITF explained in detail the major challenges the NITF faces since the implementation of the NNDIS in 2016 and expressed the wish to improve the scheme.
The NNDIS was established to provide relief to the uninsured public affected by natural disasters without being a burden to the General Treasury, offering cover for damages to houses, business premises of micro and small enterprises (with an annual turnover of less than Rs. 10 million), loss of lives and emergency relief expenses to take care of the displaced persons attributable to all types of natural catastrophes.
During the two years ending March 31, 2018, claims exceeding Rs. 5.5 billion have been paid by NITF under this scheme with the Treasury paying insurance premiums of Rs. 800 million to NITF for this period. While the Government and the uninsured public have greatly benefitted by this scheme, it has exerted pressure on the NITF due to the mismatch between the premium paid by the Government and the cost of reinsurance cover needed to protect its balance sheet.
Chandri Gunawardhana, CEO of Global Business Counselling and advisor to NITF engaged by KfW, presented the vulnerabilities of Sri Lanka to natural disasters and the overall measures in place to meet such challenges, whilst Michael Roth, Head of Munich Re’s Public Sector Business Development (PSBD) Initiatives and Chair, Insurance Development Forum (lDF) Pilot Programs Working Group, reacting to the presented case and its challenges, proposed the Public Private Partnership solution approach of the working group for the Sri Lanka pilot and recourse to the expertise of the private sector.
Manjula de Silva, Chairman, NITF said: “The continuity of NNDIS is of critical importance to the disaster-prone public and the Government which is called upon to support the uninsured public, typically the most affected by natural disasters which are increasingly more frequent and intense. NITF greatly appreciates the role played by KfW as implementer of the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) and the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) for not only providing this opportunity to NITF but also for offering to extend their continued support to strengthen NNDIS to become a more sustainable and resilient programme”.
Launched at the 2017 UN Climate Conference in Bonn (COP23), the InsuResilience Global Partnership aims to strengthen the resilience of developing countries and to protect the lives and livelihoods of poor and vulnerable people against the impacts of disasters.
| NITF releases Rs.130 m for relief work in the North | |
| The National Insurance Trust Fund (NITF) has so far released Rs. 130 million to the Ministry of Disaster Management to provide emergency relief to the displaced persons in the Northern Province and to pay advances in respect of damaged houses. These funds have been provided under the National Natural Disaster Insurance Scheme (NNDIS) operated by NITF, the state insurance agency said in a media statement on Wednesday. |