The Nigerian insurance industry continues to show resilience despite the macroeconomic downturn, maintaining its growth trajectory. The Industry has benefitted from the general drive to reprice premium rates upwards and the persistent naira devaluation as foreign currency denominated premiums are bloated upon translation to naira. Increased marketing drive, partnerships and efforts to improve consumer confidence and trust levels have also yielded some gains. Consequently, the Industry’s gross premium income rose by 22.9% to ₦776.5 billion in 2022 and is estimated by Agutso & Co. to have grown further by circa 30% in 2023 to exceed the ₦1 trillion mark. Our near-term outlook for gross premiums and performance is positive given our expectation that the Industry will continue to benefit from the free-fall of the naira and business expansion drive. In the first two months of 2024, the naira depreciated by 40.8% against the USD, backing our anticipation for higher premiums from foreign currency-denominated policies, especially oil and gas. Furthermore, we expect higher investment income given the contractionary policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria and we believe this will significantly strengthen profitability in the near term.
Our Agusto & Co.’s 2024 Insurance Industry Report include an analysis of the following:
