Mozambique: Government seeks to expand insurance access nationwide

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Mozambique: Government seeks to expand insurance access nationwide

4:52 CAT | 19 Sep 2025

Photo: Instituto de Supervisão de Seguros de Moçambique

Mozambique’s government recognised on Thursday the need to raise the insurance penetration rate in the national economy to 2% in 2024, advocating measures to make “qualitative leaps” in its access.

“Concerning the insurance penetration rate in our economy, it will be around 2% in 2024, compared to an average of around 4% for the ASEL [Association of Lusophone Insurance Supervisors] countries. That’s why we need to speed up the steps to equalise and make qualitative leaps in terms of access to insurance products,” appealed the Secretary of State for the Treasury and Budget, Amílcar Tivane.

Speaking at the opening of ASEL’s 29th annual conference in Maputo, Tivane emphasised the need to debate strategies for the “promotion and sustainable development” of insurance as a “crucial” sector in the context of “major projects” involving natural resources and financial inclusion in the country.

The Secretary of State reiterated the “importance” of the “expansion of services” and of access to and use of “quality financial services, reinforcing consumer protection”, and emphasised that the Maputo meeting would make it possible to discuss the role of artificial intelligence and the impact of climate change on the sector.

Citing data from the Bank of Mozambique, Tivane said that by 2023, only 17% of the Mozambican population had access to an insurance product, with a higher incidence among men, and there were also “significant” differences between urban and rural areas.

The Mozambican government authorities have stated that they will align the reforms in the insurance sector with the five-year plan (2025-2029) and the financial inclusion strategy (2025-2031), aiming for “greater access to quality services”.

The Mozambican insurance market generated more than €316 million in gross premiums in 2023, a slight decrease on the previous year’s record, according to data from the Bank of Mozambique previously reported by Lusa.

According to a central bank report on financial inclusion, the insurance market had generated gross premiums of 21,885 million meticais (€317 million) in 2022, an absolute record, having fallen slightly last year to almost 21,841 million meticais (€316.3 million).

He added that in the same period, the insurance business in Mozambique totalled 18,502 million meticais (268 million) in Non-Life premiums and almost 3,339 million meticais (€48.3 million) in Life premiums.

In 2023, 17 insurance companies were operating in Mozambique, with 12 operating in Non-Life, two exclusively in Life, and three operating in both sectors simultaneously.

The country also had three microinsurance companies, one reinsurance company, eight pension fund management companies, 145 insurance brokers, five reinsurance brokers and 31 commercial company agents, according to the Banco de Moçambique report.

Source: Lusa