Bangladesh govt drawing up national insurance policy

The Bangladeshi government is drawing up the country's first-ever national insurance policy, with the aim of expanding insurance coverage through reforms. The insurance regulator, Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA), says that the draft will be finalised soon.

The national policy will have short, medium and long term objectives. If approved, it will come into effect from early 2014 and will expire by 2021. One macro goal is to raise the insurance industry's contribution to the country's GDP to 3.0 percent from its present level of less than 0.5 percent.

"We've prepared the draft. It will be finalised shortly. Then we'll send the draft to the Ministry of Finance for its final approval," said IDRA chairman M Shefaque Ahmed according to media reports.

The IDRA chief said one of the key objectives of the policy is to inculcate public confidence in the insurance industry. "We'll explore all potential under the policy," he said.