March 12 (SeeNews) - The assets of insurance companies operating in Bulgaria rose by an annual 4.8% to 7.645 billion levs ($4.41 billion/3.91 billion euro) at the end of 2018, the central bank said.
On a quarterly comparison basis, the assets managed by insurers in Bulgaria fell 1.3%, the Bulgarian National Bank said in a statement on Monday.
The assets of general insurance companies rose 4.4% year-on-year to 5.492 billion levs, while the assets of life insurance companies added 5.8% on the year to 2.153 billion levs at the end of last year.
Securities other than shares formed 49.1% of the insurance companies' assets at the end of 2018, down from 51.5% a year earlier.
Shares accounted for 13.8% of insurers' total assets, while claims from insurance operations constituted 11.3%. This compares to a share of 12.9% and 10.3%, respectively, at the end of 2017.
(1 euro=1.95583 levs)