TEHRAN -- Abdolasser Hemmati, the chairman of the Iran Central Insurance Co., said that the rate of losses in the insurance industry reached 80 percent during the last Iranian year (ended March 20,2002). This rate shows that the amount of services provided by Iranian insurance companies is globally unprecedented, he said.

Hemmati told IRIB television that this rate shows that the country's insurance companies are suffering a lack of motivation to earn profits because they are involved in providing routine services, indemnifying losses, and fulfilling these kinds of responsibilities.

He announced that Rls.6 trillion of insurance coverage was provided by the end of the last Iranian year, indicating that Iran's insurance industry is very underdeveloped. He added that it is hoped that this backwardness will be eliminated by the structural reforms on the agenda.

Hemmati stated that the rate of insurance coverage has considerably increased compared to the record of this industry's performance in Iran.