Sabrina N. Gordon, Business Reporter
The Irish government has donated US$2.4 million to the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Fund (CCRIF), whose holdings are now valued at approximately US$80 million.
Ireland's donation brings donor sponsorship to $50.1 million, while insurance premiums from the 16 participating governments make up another US$19.5 million.
Some of the monies in the eight-month-old facility have been drawn down to finance CRIFF's operations.
"That fund has been used to pay reinsurance premiums for the year, as well as most operational costs and also the claims totaling about US$950,000," said Dr Simon Young, chief executive officer of CariRM, the entity established to oversee the Caribbean insurance facility.
"The draw down is thus a little less than US$10 million," he said.
CCRIF continues to advocate for additional funds, but for now the facility has close to US$80 million with claims paying capacity of about US$160 million - US$100 million from reinsurance and US$60 million in own assets.
another contribution
"We are in the process of finalising another small, but still important contribution to be announced once it has actually taken place," Young said.
Talks with other potential donors are underway with the European Union being the most advanced of those discussions.
The continued support of donors provides greater stability to CCRIF and allows for expanded coverage options and the exploration of new coverage types, as requested by policyholders, he said.
Negotiations continue with Guyana and Suriname to sign onto the insurance scheme.
But Young also said the facility was engaged in active discussions with other potential participants for the 2008/09 policy renewal period and beyond, but revealed no names.
Initially, there were 18 members in the facility. However the British Virgin Islands has recently pulled out and Montserrat, whose biggest risk is from its Mount Souffriere volcano, requires a special arrangement.
sabrina.gordon@gleanerjm.com
TAKEN FROM THE FINANCIAL GLEANER, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2008
