Cash crunch: Insurance sector shrinks by 7% – NBS

The insurance sector’s growth fell by 7.25 per cent in the first quarter of 2023, the latest figures obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) have revealed.

The NBS disclosed in its ‘Nigeria Gross Domestic Product Q1, 2023’ that the finance and insurance sector consist of two subsectors which are financial institutions and insurance.

It stated that the former accounted for 91.75 per cent while the latter accounted for 8.25 per cent of the sector respectively in real terms in Q1, 2023.

The report stated that “As a whole, the sector grew at 22.37 per cent in nominal terms (year-on-year), with the growth rate of financial institutions at 25.99 per cent and -7.25 per cent growth rate recorded for insurance.

“The overall rate was lower than Q1, 2022 by 9.91 per cent points, and lower by 0.21 per cent points than the preceding quarter.

“The quarter-on-quarter growth was 12.55 per cent.”

Analysts had predicted a decline in economic performance over the cash crunch crisis that emanated from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s naira redesign policy.