According to its President, Solomon Lartey, this is because more than 40 per cent of insur­ance premiums were invested in government securities, particu­larly bonds.

Speaking to the media at the investiture ceremony of the Governing Council of the CIIG, Mr Lartey said the DDE pro­gramme would further worsen underwriting losses by insurance

 firms if the industry is not ex­empted from the programme.

He also pointed out that con­fidence in the insurance industry would be eroded if the govern­ment goes ahead to implement the DDE programme in its current form.

“Since the industry is making underwriting losses, overall, it means that insurance companies rely on investment income to meet their claim obligations to policyholders. Therefore, any debt exchange programme will negatively affect our ability to pay claims and lead to asset-liability mismatch,” he stressed.

He warned that the debt exchange programme would worsen the penetration rate of the insurance industry which was less than two per cent.

“Taking into consideration the fact that insurance compa­nies are making underwriting losses, the effect of the debt exchange programme will be so devastating that there will not be an insurance industry after we surmount the economic challenges,” he said.

According to the Ghana Insurers Association, insurance firms lost GH¢ 356 million in underwriting in the third quarter of 2022.