Project Description
The project is to establish a Global Index Reinsurance Facility (GIRIF or the company). GIRIF would consist of:
- a commercial risk-taking company to underwrite indexable weather and other indexable natural catastrophe risks in developing countries; and
-a technical assistance/donor funding pool to develop the technical parameters of the business.
The commercial risk-taking company will structure, underwrite and intermediate these risks for the protection of private entities and government, local farmers and financial intermediaries. The company will reinsure weather/catastrophic events, which adversely impact on the development process in developing countries and, in particular, on low-income and rural communities/individuals at the micro level. Index-based catastrophic insurance is a complex and sophisticated financial instrument, which is considered to be an efficient and effective means of intermediating catastrophic risks.