The Bahamas government says it will renew the parametric insurance provided by the Cayman Islands-based Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility SPC (CCRIF) as the country continues to monitor two disturbances that could potentially bring heavy rain and thunderstorms.
The Bahamas Department of Meteorology is predicting intense inclement weather ahead for northwest and central Bahamas noting that one of the systems is moving in a northeastward direction and will move near northwest Bahamas during Friday night.
Prime Minister Phillip Davis speaking during the ongoing budget debate in Parliament said his administration agreed “to renew our insurance with CCRIF subject to their coming to reassess the basis upon which they had assumptions that they are now satisfied may be an error, and we hope to have a more reasonable response to risks and triggers for claims.”
Following the passage of Hurricane Dorian, the CCRIF paid out almost US$13 million, half of which was paid to the government within seven days following the storm, with the remainder being paid within 14 days.
The government had also been using the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) contingent line of credit and its own contingency funding as it sought to deal with the after-effects of the Category 5 storm that caused what the IDB says was an estimated US$3.4 billion in damages, which is equal to one-quarter of The Bahamas’ gross domestic product.
Dorian hit The Bahamas on September 1, 2019, as a Category 5 hurricane, causing flooding and mass destruction on the northwest islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama. The storm pummeled Grand Bahama Islands for 48 long hours before finally moving away from the islands.
CMC
