Property owners and motorists in Barbados will pay approximately 10 per cent more in insurance premiums next year.President of the General Insurance Association of Barbados (GIAB) Randy Graham revealed on Tuesday that from next year, insurance companies in Barbados and other Caribbean countries will have to pay between 15 per cent and 30 per cent more when they buy reinsurance, as a result of the US$55 billion in claims paid out by reinsurance companies for damage caused by hurricanes in the Caribbean this year.And he said while the full cost will not be passed on to local policyholders, they will have to pay more.“Unfortunately, we are hearing these types of responses from the reinsurers all through the Caribbean. As far up as the Bahamas in the north, right back down to Guyana in the south, the reinsurers are giving us the same type of stories. It is a difficult environment. They are complaining about...you know, we had four hurricanes that made landfall in the Caribbean. But the real issue is that they didn’t just make landfall in the Caribbean, two of them flew up into Florida and caused millions of dollars in damage,” Graham said in an interview with Barbados TODAY.
