CCRIF SPC, a segregated portfolio company owned operated and registered in the Caribbean, has completed the previously-announced $5.8 million payout to the government of Barbados, triggered by heavy rainfall that occurred during the passage of tropical storm Kirk, within 14 days of the event.
The payout is CCRIF’s first of the 2018/19 policy year and brings the total sum paid to Barbados in the last 11 years to $19.3 million.
Meeting with Barbados Prime Minister Honourable Mia Amor Mottley, Deputy Chairperson Desirée Cherebin and Board member Faye Hardy at a short ceremony to mark the payout CCRIF Chief Executive Officer Isaac Anthony remarked that natural hazards continue to have an inordinate impact on the economies of the small island states of the Caribbean.
Anthony went on to underscore the importance of risk transfer instruments in country disaster risk management (DRM) and climate resilience strategies.
He indicated that the importance of risk financing and the parametric products that CCRIF provides has become even more evident especially after the past two years in which Hurricanes Matthew, Irma and Maria affected so many of the countries in the region.
However, he was quick to point out that, notwithstanding the value of these products, CCRIF insurance or risk transfer in general is not a panacea – but only part of the DRM equation.
“In the Caribbean, we know all too well that we must have allocations in our budget for disaster management and recovery supported by comprehensive disaster management policies and plans. We must – and can – reduce our vulnerabilities to natural hazards,” commented Anthony.
In receiving the payout, Prime Minister Mottley added, “Every dollar in damage for a country that is in a tight fiscal situation is a dollar that we really would have preferred not to lose and therefore [we are pleased] to have this sum coming back to us to help us offset some of the damage as a result of Tropical Storm Kirk”
