The Turkish government has released its Medium-Term Programme (MTP), a roadmap for the economy, covering the years 2027-2029, that will promote large-scale industrial manufacturing, agricultural development, public procurement to spur domestic production and high-value exports via project-based funding.
Opportunities for insurance sector
Mr Ahmet Yasar, President of the Insurance Association of Turkiye (TSB), told the local media that the new MTP opens up significant opportunities for the insurance sector.
He emphasised that the programme’s focus on strengthening economic resilience is particularly significant for the insurance sector. He said, “We are talking about a very broad range of risks, from energy and water supply security to agricultural resilience, from strategic sectors to disaster risks. Insurance is one of the fundamental financial tools for economic and social resilience through the proactive management of risks, the sharing of economic losses, and the reduction of the burden on public finances.”
Regarding disaster insurance, he said that the 6 February earthquakes in 2023 revealed the economic and financial dimensions of disaster risks. He pointed out that expenditures related to the earthquakes are expected to reach TRY5.4tn or approximately $104bn at 2026 rates for the period 2023-2026. An additional $10bn in spending is expected in 2027,which would take the projected total expenditure to be around $116bn.
“Therefore, we believe that in addition to providing relief for losses with public resources after a disaster, urban transformation policies that reduce risk before a disaster should be accelerated, and a larger portion of the remaining risk should be shared through insurance, reinsurance, and capital markets.”
In addition, Mr Yasar stressed, “In the coming period, as a sector, we will need to focus more on shifting from nominal premium increases due to inflation to real growth, increasing the number of policies and policyholders, sustainable technical profitability and increasing insurance penetration.” M