Albania to insure households, businesses from floods

TIRANA, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama on Monday announced the launch of a legal initiative to insure households and businesses from floods.

The move aims to provide cover for flood-related damages to businesses and households and serve as a mechanism that would reduce the country's significant fiscal exposure to disasters.

Speaking at the Civil Emergency Coordination Committee meeting, Rama said that Albania was the only country that had not endorsed such a law and this was why flood-hit people were left adrift waiting from the state budget.

"It is needed that all Albanian people and enterprises should be aware, like in any normal country, to insure households and businesses from floods," Rama said at the meeting.

Such proposal is made at a time when most of Albania's territory is under water due to the massive floods that swept Albania in recent days.

Rama said that the past investments proved beneficiary to the diminished results of the disaster, however, he added that it was crucial to make a number of interventions so that river beds and forest green belts were restored.

Meanwhile, referring to the data published by the Albanian Financial Supervisory Authority (AFSA), it turns out that Albanian citizens are not very interested in insuring their house, property or businesses against the natural disaster damages.

AFSA data showed Monday that some 32,725 contracts were issued in insurance against Fire and Natural Forces portfolio for the ten-month period from January through October this year, down from 35,891 insurance contracts issued during the same period of in 2016. Enditem