As a region, Central American (including Panama) insurance premiums rose 8.1% when comparing Q1 2010 to Q1 2009, totaling US$ 529 million during the first quarter of 2010.  Premiums for Costa Rica’s Instituto Nacional de Seguros, effectively still a monopoly holder in the market for the time being despite recent regulatory changes, rose 16.6% for the period.  Positive premium growth was not uniform across jurisdictions, as both Nicaragua (-1.3%) and El Salvador (-1.0%) experienced lower premiums for the period.

Except for El Salvador, however, all of the Central American countries experienced bottom-line earnings increases, with the region totaling an increase of 49% for the period.  Regional average loss ratios for the period decreased from 53.5% to 48.3%.

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