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ICIEC Insured $10.86bn Worth of Businesses In OIC Countries In 2019

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Monday, February 17, 2020 / 6:15 PM / Bukola Akinyele for WebTV / Header Image Credit: Executive Magazine

The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) insured businesses globally to the tune of $10.86bn in 2019. The coverage was part of the report of the ICIEC reviewing its performance and activities for 2019. It translated to a 20.31% increase from 2018, which gulped total business insurance of $9.03bn.

The number of claims paid declined massively during the year in review by more than 99.73% to reach a very low level.

According to the Oussama A. Kaissi Chief Executive Officer, the impact of the insurance spanned the globe, with activities in all of its core regions, from Asia to Africa.

He noted that the majority of businesses insured in 2019 concentrated on two core regions: The Middle East and North Africa and also Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe.

The ICIEC President restated the commitment of the Organization to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In terms of the impact made in 2019, the distribution by region showed that the Middleast and North Africa, MENA emerged the highest with 54.39%, while Sub-Saharan Africa came second with 42.34% and Asia with 3.28%.

ICIEC Businesses Insured by Region in 2019 include Asia 3.28%, Middle East and North Africa: 54.39% and Sub-Saharan Africa 42.34%.

From the industry review across all three regions, energy and manufacturing led the areas supported by ICIEC. Business insured in the energy sector totalled $5.5bn million, while in the manufacturing sector, the figure stood at $2.7bn.

The Top Countries that benefitted from the ICIEC services in 2019 include;

Turkey-14.94%,
Algeria -10.53%,
UAE-10.18%,
Jordan-8.9%,
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia-6.18%
Egypt-3.38% and
Lebanon-2.88%.

For businesses insured by the ICIEC in 2019, analysis showed that Energy was the highest with $5.5bn, Manufacturing came second with $2.7bn firms, Services was third with $869m, Other sectors had $605m, Infrastructure based firms received $474m, Healthcare $360m, Trade $206m, and Agriculture $64m.

ICIEC's overall performance for the year shows that it is firmly on track and delivering on its core mission to nurture and promote sustainable and lasting growth in member countries

ICIEC took part in the 2019 London Sukuk Summit, engaging with leading industry experts and institutions from across the world.

The goal was to raise the profile of the Sukuk industry by creating a higher level of awareness among investors and insurers.

At the summit, CEO Oussama Kaissi presented a paper during a session on 'The Untapped Potential of Sukuk in Developing Economies.' Specifically, he addressed the role of ICIEC in enhancing new entrants to the Sovereign Sukuk Origination Market.

"By accessing Sukuk, companies can increase their investor base through stronger ratings, raise loan tenors and decrease borrowing costs," he told delegates at the conference.

ICIEC is already something of a pioneer in this field, delivering the first Sovereign Sukuk insurance product back in 2013. The Corporation now provides a third-party guarantee as an essential component of today's export credit, investment and Sukuk insurance mix.