Of the sum, 10 quadrillion Vietnamese dong was paid by enterprises from different sectors, while 1 quadrillion Vietnamese dong was recorded in the life insurance sector and 700 trillion Vietnamese dong in health insurance, Khanh told the conference, which reviewed the results of insurance market development plan during the period.

Vietnam is currently home to 61 insurance providers, including 29 non-life insurance firms, 17 life insurance enterprises and two re-insurance and 12 insurance broker companies.

Nearly 10 million people are covered by health insurance and 30 million people are insured against aviation and railway accidents, in addition to about 12 million students with health insurance cards.

Khanh commented that the sector fulfilled goals set in the 2011-15 insurance market development strategy with an average growth rate of 16 per cent per year.

By the end of 2015, total revenue was estimated at more than 84.3 trillion Vietnamese dong, or 2 per cent of gross domestic product.

The total indemnity fund during the period was nearly 130.4 trillion Vietnamese dong, up 2.36 times from 2010.

Deputy Director of ISA Doan Anh Tuan said insurance providers had accumulated 157 trillion Vietnamese dong to reinvest in the country’s economy.

“They contributed more than 5 trillion Vietnamese dong of corporate income tax to the State budget. About 2.57 trillion Vietnamese dong was sourced from life insurance providers and the remainder from non-life insurance businesses,” said Tuấn.

Tuan said the insurance sector was the ‘midwife’ of the economy. As many as 80 per cent of construction projects and major State projects were insured.

When riots damaged foreign investor’s property in industrial parks in Ha Tinh, Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces, insurance firms were one of the first agencies on the scene and worked with investors to solve damages, he said.

Indemnity over the incidents was estimated at 144 billion Vietnamese dong, but it is now 916 billion Vietnamese dong for the investors in the three provinces. This contributed to helping investors feel secure but also restore their belief in working in Vietnam, he said.

(US$1 = 22,284.50 Vietnamese dong)