The policy year 2022/23 represented 16 years of CCRIF providing catastrophe risk insurance to the Caribbean and 7 years to Central America. CCRIF continue to provide access to quick liquidity following natural disasters, scaling up access to parametric insurance for new perils and new economic sectors.
For the past 15 years we have been able to consistently provide quick liquidity to our members within 14 days of a natural disaster when a country’s policy is triggered. This helps governments meet their most pressing needs after the disaster, support the most vulnerable in their population and continue government operations. Our member governments have demonstrated year after year that they are leading the way in putting fi nancial protection mechanisms in place to address disaster risk.
Today, our member governments continue to grapple with both domestic and external challenges. From as early as the first quarter in January 2020, the Board and Management Team of CCRIF began to strategize and create scenarios on the possible impacts of the pandemic. This allowed us to quickly pivot and agree on our approach to support our member governments. We also began engaging with our development partners to determine how they too would help us to support our member governments.
For the 2019/20 policy year, all CCRIF members renewed their existing parametric insurance coverage; and 10 members increased their level of coverage for at least one of their policies compared to the 2018/19 policy year. Members purchased a total of 59 policies: 21 tropical cyclone (TC) policies, 15 earthquake (EQ) policies, 21 excess rainfall (XSR) policies and 2 COAST (fisheries) policies – an increase of four policies compared with the previous year.
This report will highlight CCRIF SPC’s main accomplishments and activities during the 2018/19 policy year. This was the first year covered by our new Strategic Plan 2018-21, which reflects the objectives which emerged from consensus of our members and our regional and international partners. This report will present not only CCRIF’s activities and accomplishments but also their contribution to the seven strategic objectives established for 2018-2021.
The year 2017 was another defining moment for the Caribbean after suffering the devastation caused by two category 5 hurricanes – Irma and Maria – within 14 days of each other. Damage and loss due to these storms is being estimated at approximately US$130 billion and affected 18 countries, including CCRIF member countries, their populations and social and economic infrastructure. These catastrophic events resulted in CARICOM declaring its ambition for the Caribbean to become the first climate-resilient zone in the world.
In the 10th year of our operations we are happy to report that our members increasingly recognize the facility as a key partner in development and realize that gaining access to fast-disbursing liquidity for relief and recovery efforts in the aftermath of disasters when a policy is triggered results in enhanced fiscal resilience and helps reduce the long-term economic losses associated with these events.
This is our 9th year in operation and the first year of implementation of our 2015-2018 Strategic Plan. This Strategic Plan, whilst focussing on the future of CCRIF, takes into account lessons learned over the first eight years of operation, the progress we have made over the years and the issues and challenges being faced by our members.
This year, CCRIF – known as the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility since its inception in 2007 – was re-structured into a segregated portfolio company (SPC) and is now named CCRIF SPC.
The CCRIF Annual Report for 2013/2014 demonstrates CCRIF’s continued commitment to meeting the needs of our current and potential member countries and other partners in the Caribbean region.
