Allianz Group has acquired majority shareholding in Jubilee General Insurance Company in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Mauritius and Burundi. The company is one of the world’s leading insurers and asset managers with more than 100 million retail and corporate customers in more than 70 countries.
Jubilee Insurance is an insurance company based in Kenya with operations in other African countries such as Tanzania, Uganda, Mauritius and Burundi.
The acquisition is part of the Allianz’s plan to expand its presence in the East African insurance market. The company has also launched a series of events in the region to discuss opportunities in the East African region.
The first event kicked off with a presentation and discussion with Ludovic Subran, Chief Economist of Allianz, titled “Vaccine Economics, Trade, China and Growth in Africa”, followed by a panel discussion with East African and German/African business leaders and later followed by an interactive session with Ludovic Subran and members of the Allianz Africa Regional Executive East Afcrican economyve Board; CEO Coenraad Vrolijk, CFO Anuj Agarwal and COO Delphine Traoré.
Allianz Research is confident about the short-term economic development and forecasts. Besides huge ongoing monetary and fiscal impulses, the main growth driver in 2021 will be a positive “confidence shock”, triggered by the vaccination campaign, boosting consumption, investment and trade. In this growth scenario, the upside and downside risks are substantial.
Africa’s economic outlook 2021: Vaccine economics, China, and trade dynamics:
· Strong rebound of global GDP in 2021 by +4.4%. A fast and successful vaccination campaign could give additional boost to growth through
confidence effects.
· Supportive policy mix from the US, Europe, and China to provide good external conditions but attractiveness and competitiveness are
essential.
Fiscal imbalances are the key economic challenge in Africa.
· In the end, the strength of Africa’s recovery will depend on commodities, China, tourism, and trade dynamics.
While COVID-19 infection rates remained relatively low on the continent compared with the other parts of the World, African economies were severely hit by the crisis due to weak internal and external demand and commodity price shocks. In 2021, the recovery will be essentially driven by stronger domestic and world demand and trade, higher commodity prices and resuming tourism activity.
“Low interest rates are a sweet poison. The Covid-19 crisis has worsened fiscal imbalances in Africa. The increasing of public spending and the decreasing of government revenues from tourism, natural resources and taxes pushed up public debt to hardly sustainable levels. African governments have now less fiscal space than after at the onset of the Great Financial Crisis to boost economic recovery. The main economic challenge for Africa is to finance growth sustainably. The need to focus on attractiveness and competitiveness will be key.”, said Ludovic Subran.
In Africa, Allianz is currently present in 12 countries and accompanies clients in 49 markets.