NAIROBI, April 4 (Xinhua) -- East African countries unveiled a strategic plan on Thursday aimed at increasing insurance penetration in the region.
Kaddunabbi Ibrahim Lubega, Chairman of the East African Insurance Supervisors' Association and CEO of the Insurance Regulatory Authority of Uganda, announced the plan in Nairobi, Kenya.
Lubega said that the plan outlines a roadmap to enhance the region's low insurance penetration rate, which currently stands at about 2.5 percent of Kenya's gross domestic product and less than 1.5 percent for the rest of the region.
"The plan also aims to harmonize legal frameworks for insurance operations in East Africa," Lubega added.
He said that the plan includes strategies for adopting emerging technologies such as data analytics, blockchain and artificial intelligence to digitally transform the regional insurance industry.
Njuguna Ndungu, Kenya's cabinet secretary for national treasury and economic planning, said that the plan also focuses on establishing and strengthening insurance consumer protection mechanisms across East Africa.
The plan emphasizes the importance of strengthening insurance market conduct supervision to ensure compliance with the insurance core principles of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors, he added. ■
