A six-week campaign has been launched by stakeholders to raise local awareness and understanding of insurance.
This follows the low penetration of insurance – which stands at 12 percent of Fiji’s adult population- noted in the 2015 National Financial Services Demand Side Survey Report.
“The top three reasons reported by survey respondents for not buying insurance were that they do not need it, they do not know what it is or how it works and that they find insurance too expensive,” said Barry Whiteside, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji.
The RBF is working on the campaign alongside the Pacific Financial Inclusion Program, Insurance Council of Fiji and the Inclusive Insurance Working Group.
“Amongst those that claim they do not need insurance, I would like to think that perhaps they don’t fully understand it. Clearly with the first two you can appreciate that a lot of work is needed to bring about greater public awareness and education on insurance,” Mr Whiteside highlighted.
On the third common answer of insurance being too expensive, he said that while respondents had a pertinent point, a growing part of their financial inclusion work of taking affordable financial services to the excluded and low income communities was being concentrated in the area of insurance.