Bulgarian insurers 9-mo gross premiums fall 1.1%

The gross premium income of general insurers decreased by 1.8% year-on-year to 956.6 million levs through September, data of the Financial Supervision Commission showed.

Bulgaria's general insurance market is dominated by general motor insurance and mandatory third-party liability insurance policies for motor vehicles which accounted for combined 70.7% of total premiums in the first nine months of the year.

Life insurers posted a combined premium income of 180.2 million levs through September, up by 3.0% on the year.

The gross premium income from voluntary health insurance rose by 14.8% to 34.7 million levs in the January-September period.

A total of 174,937 Bulgarians had voluntary health insurance plans at the end of September, down from 205,654 a year earlier.

A total of 18 general insurers and 16 life insurers operated in Bulgaria in the period under review.

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)