Page 96 - TGIA_AnnualReport2012

Message

from TGIA President

In 2012, we have changed our name to the Thai General Insurance Association (TGIA) after

th
having used the old name for 45 years. This year, we also had the honor of hosting the 38 ASEAN
Insurance Council Meeting that had brought members of insurance business in ASEAN region to
exchange knowledge, experience and technical cooperation.
The Thai economy grew at 5.7% in 2012. Some of the driving factors included domestic demand, consumption
and private investment that resulted from the government various policies such as an increase in minimum daily wage,
government official salary, excise tax deduction for first-time car buyers, rice pledging scheme, corporate tax decrease
as well as consumption and government investment. In contrast, the volume of exports has dropped due to world
economic slowdown. As far as the performance of general insurance business is concerned, in a period of 10 months
in 2012, the figures disclosed by the Office of Insurance Commission showed that the total amount of direct premium
income was 147,650 million Baht, an increase of 27.74 %, compared with the same period of the previous year. Of this,
motor insurance accounted for the highest premium income of 85,013 million Baht or an increase of 23.56% over the
same period of 2011, thanks to the government’s policy of excise tax deduction for first-time car buyers and the boost
in production capacity of car manufacturing industry which pushed an increase in the number of personal cars by as
high as 263.7% in October 2012, followed by miscellaneous insurance whose total premium income was 50,286 million
Baht or an increase of 39.14% and fire insurance at 8,019 million Baht or an increase of 19.17%. Growth of general
insurance business in 2012 was record high and it was the first time in more than a decade that the growth in general
insurance business surpassed that of life insurance.
As for the Thai economy in 2013, the Fiscal Policy Office, attaching to the Ministry of Finance projected that
the economic growth will be about 5.2%. The driving factors include demands from government sector and from foreign
countries, including the disbursement of budget under the long-term water management project whose total budget is
about 350,000 million Baht. In exports, the total volume is expected to increase by 7.3% due to an expected recovery
of world economy in 2013. According to Thai Reinsurance Public Co., Ltd., the growth in direct premium income in 2013
will be about 15.7% of which miscellaneous insurance will account for the highest growth, followed by motor insurance
at 19.5% and 15% respectively.

94 รายงานประจ�าปี 2555 | Annual Report 2012