Finance Minister Erica Shafudah has called on the insurance sector to play a bigger role in building economic resilience under climate change pressure.

It is Namibia National Reinsurance Corporation's 25th anniversary, and the celebrations are taking place at Swakopmund.

Namibre was established to address the lack of local reinsurance capacity and to support the development of the insurance sector.

The theme is "The Future we insure: Climate resilience and sustainability and growth.

The finance minister says for a drought-prone country like Namibia, climate volatility is putting communities, agriculture and infrastructure under increasing pressure, and the insurance sector needs to step in.

"Governments cannot carry climate risk alone, nor can the private sector address systemic climate risks without partnership engagements among governments, regulators, and our international partners. Africa, our continent, faces a substantial development financing deficit. This has intensified as international development finance declines, a reality that Namibia knows very well being a middle-income country. It is therefore critical that Africa strengthens reinsurance capacity to be a source for financing some of the losses caused by the natural phenomenon."

The Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (NAMFISA), which supervises NamiBre, believes the sustainability of the insurance industry also depends on whether customers trust the system.

Its Chief Executive Officer is Kenneth Matomola, who said, "One insurer went to the other part of that particular country and sold them the index agricultural insurance. And somehow drought struck that part of that country. The insurer said we are not going to pay because this is not the magnitude. But the people in that area lost their produce and lost their animals. After a while, another insurer went there and said, Hey man, I want to sell you this particular insurance. The one who was soliciting for insurance was attacked because people did not trust the insurers anymore.

And therefore it's important that we build trust with those that are involved in the insurance, especially since we need to protect the policyholders."

NAMFISA is implementing a piece of legislation called the Financial Institutions and Markets Act (FIMA), and the CEO explained that it creates opportunities for resilience, innovation, fair competition, investment and new business models.