The CCRIF SPC member governments have renewed their paramedic insurance coverage for tropical cyclones, excess rainfall and earthquakes, and the fisheries sector for the policy year 2022/23.
With this renewal, Caribbean and Central American governments have expanded their risk pool by 10% year-on-year, renewing $1.2 billion of coverage, this included earthquake, tropical cyclone and excess rainfall policies.
According to the CCRIF, 13 member governments increased their coverage compared with the 2021/22 policy year.
“The renewal and demand for increased coverage by members illustrate that countries continue to recognize the critical importance of financially protecting their economies against natural disasters, especially in the context of the increasing frequency and intensity of natural hazards,” said the CCRIF.
Additional grant funding was made available to the CCRIF by the World Bank, in partnership with the European Union (EU) through its Caribbean Regional Resilience Building Facility (CRRB) managed by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, to support eligible Caribbean countries.
The World Bank, alongside the EU, Germany (through KfW Development Bank and Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)) and the United States Treasury (UST), through the Central America and the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Program, supported Central American members.
According to the announcement, for this policy year, the CCRIF offered member countries the option to reduce the cost of their policy premiums or to increase coverage or both by approximately 11% for tropical cyclone policies and 24% for excess rainfall policies for the Caribbean and 15 to 30% for Central America.
“In addition to this support, CCRIF also provided discounts to its members as an incentive to increase coverage, including a discount to members on any increased coverage over the previous policy year for tropical cyclone and earthquake policies,” said the CCRIF.
Additionally, The World Bank provided premium support to pilot countries Grenada and Saint Lucia for a fourth year for their 2022/23 fisheries COAST policies.
CCRIF continues to expand its products and continues to work with the Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC) for the rollout of its electric utilities product, the company added.
During the 2021/22 policy year the CCRIF made payouts to three members, $40 million to the Government of Haiti after the earthquake in August 2021, its largest payout to date, and payouts to Barbados after Tropical Cyclone Elsa and Trinidad and Tobago following heavy rains in August 2021.
Since 2007, when it launched, the CCRIF has made a total of 54 payouts to 16 of its member governments, totalling approximately $245 million, with every payment made within 14 days of the event.
