HANOI, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- The total premiums collected by insurers in Vietnam stood at 84,186 billion Vietnamese dong (over 3.7 billion U.S. dollars) in the first 10 months of this year, up 20.4 percent on-year, the Insurance Supervisory Administration under the country's Finance Ministry said on Monday.
Specifically, life insurance premiums were 51,180 billion Vietnamese dong, up 32 percent on-year, while non-life insurance premiums stood at 33,006 billion Vietnamese dong, up roughly 9 percent.
In the 10-month period, insurance companies in Vietnam paid a total of 23,904 billion Vietnamese dong to insurance policy beneficiaries, including 12,060 billion Vietnamese dong by life insurers, and 11,844 billion Vietnamese dong by non-life insurers.
This year, total life insurance premiums are predicted to surge 23.4 percent against last year to 62,294 billion Vietnamese dong, and non-life insurance premiums to increase 9.4 percent to 40,087 billion Vietnamese dong.
The Finance Ministry is finalizing a draft decree on compulsory fire and explosion insurance, and completing other draft legal documents on agriculture insurance and micro-insurance.
Micro-insurance is the protection of low-income earners against specific perils in exchange for regular premium payment proportionate to the likelihood and cost of the risks involved. (1 U.S. dollar equals to 22,712 Vietnamese dong)
