Tunisian insurance sector reaches $400 million

The volume of business in the Tunisian insurance sector rose to $400 million last year, up from $300 million in 1996. Statistics obtained by ArabicNews.com show that the volume of investment in the insurance companies increased to $450 million.

The insurance sector contains 16 corporations, 11 general insurance and five specialized insurance corporations, that supervised the implementation of plans for modernizing their systems and developing their administrative performance in order to be prepared for competition as a result of the opening to European markets within the partnership agreement upon which Tunisia and the European Union agreed in 1995.

The Tunisian - EU agreement aims to establish a free trade zone in 2010, but Tunisian Minister of Finance Mohamed El-Gari criticized the slow progress of modernization and called on officials in the insurance sector to double their efforts to fill the gaps in the sector and prepare to implement the articles of the general agreement with the European organization.