Micro-insurance needs revamp: UN
The UN urged government and financial organisations to stimulate Cambodia’s flailing micro-insurance industry yesterday, after a study found the country’s poor are vulnerable to indebtedness during a crisis.
The United Nations Development Business (UNDB) hosted a working group yesterday at Phnom Penh’s Sunway Hotel launching the study, which highlighted Cambodia’s need for a more comprehensive micro-insurance industry.
Of the 302 responses from people in Kandal, Kampong Cham and Kampong Thom provinces considered in the study, 97 per cent said they often faced risks including illness, drought, flood, death of a household member and crop damage.
Nearly 90 per cent reported illness as the most common risk they face, while 49 per cent named crop failure resulting from drought or flood as the most common.
Just 17 per cent were current micro-insurance clients while 70 per cent said they were former micro-insurance customers but discontinued their policy due to inflexible payment options and complicated policy documents.
According to the findings, 78 per cent of the respondents said they were willing to pay premiums “to a third party” of up to $15 per year in order to curb the financial risks they face on a daily basis. …
Cambodians owed almost $1.2 billion to the country’s 35 microfinance institutions at the end of September, according the Cambodia Microfinance Association, with about 30 per cent for agricultural production. …
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/micro-insurance-needs-revamp-un
