Singapore

Although the Singapore economy staged an impressive recovery in 1999, the domestic non-life insurance market proved much less resilient. The market, which saw its gross premium income reduced by 8% at the height of the Asian financial crisis in 1998, contracted by a further 3% to S$1.5bn (US$866mn) the following year. This contrasted starkly with the performance of the economy. Economic growth in Singapore dropped to 0.4% in 1998, but barely a year later the economy was up and running and registering a growth rate of 5.4%.