Friday 21 / February / 2025
Muscat: The insurance sector in the Sultanate of Oman grew by 11.9 percent during the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2022.
The unaudited financial statements of the insurance sector’s performance issued by the Capital Market Authority (CMA) indicated that the total written insurance premiums during the first half of 2023 amounted to about OMR332.9 million.
The share of national companies represented the largest portion, reaching 85.7 percent of the volume of written premiums. The combined premiums of national companies amounted to approximately OMR285 million in the first half of 2023 compared to OMR250 million in the same period in 2022, while the premiums of foreign companies amounted to approximately OMR47.8 million.
The data showed that insurance premiums for Takaful insurance companies out of the total insurance premiums for all companies constituted 11 percent, with a total value of OMR37 million, an increase of 4.3 percent in 2023 first half compared to the same period in 2022.
The data pointed to an increase in the amount of compensation paid by insurance companies to compensate for the material effects resulting from the risks to which policyholders were exposed.
This went up by 17 percent to about OMR115 million. The share of Takaful insurance amounted to more than OMR9.6 million. The net compensation saw a decrease of 6 percent in the first half of 2023 compared to the first half of 2022.
The underwriting results of insurance companies during the first half of this year showed that the total direct insurance premiums exceeded OMR160 million in the first half of 2023 compared to OMR153 million in the first half of last year. This is an increase of 4.6 percent, followed by the healthcare insurance amounted to OMR135 million in the first half 2023 compared to OMR110 million, an increase of 22.6 percent.
As for the life insurance segment, the value of insurance premiums increased by 10.4 percent, as the total value of direct insurance premiums exceeded OMR37 million in the first half of 2023 compared to OMR33 million Omani riyals in the same period last year.
The value of net insurance premiums in the first half of this year increased by 14.1 percent to exceed OMR193 million compared to about OMR169 million in the same period in 2022. This is due to the increase in net premiums in most insurance segments, as the net premiums of the individual life insurance segment recorded the highest increase among all other segments, by 69.6 percent, reaching OMR7.7 million, while the property insurance increased by 37.3 percent to about OMR8.7 million. The health insurance segment recorded the highest value in net insurance premiums at approximately OMR105 million, an increase of 18.4 percent.
Regarding operational results, data issued by the CMA indicated an increase in the value of earned premiums, net compensation, and administrative and general expenses by 10.54 percent, 17.08 percent, and 6.01 percent, respectively.
