The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has approved a grant to Haiti to cover the country’s 2017-2018 insurance premiums with CCRIF SPC, the company that provides parametric insurance coverage to the Caribbean and Latin America.  The Bank is making available the sum of USD3.5 million to meet the cost of the premiums for tropical cyclone, earthquake and excess rainfall coverage.

Parametric insurance contracts pay out quickly and reliably for disasters. They play a unique role in tackling humanitarian emergencies by providing quick liquidity at a time when there is a dramatic reduction in Government revenue and, at the same time, a need for large government services expenditures.

CDB has committed to continue paying the premiums to support efforts related to emergency disaster response and recovery, and to provide assistance to Haiti through other mechanisms, which aim to build resilience to the impact of natural hazards. 

CDB’s Director of Projects, Daniel Best said the commitment is consistent with the Bank’s focus on promoting environmental sustainability and climate change resilience.

“For the 2017 hurricane season, Haiti will still be in recovery mode from the Hurricane Matthew impact, and thus it is of critical importance that the coverage continues under the CCRIF policies. The Government of Haiti has shown its commitment to building resilience, and continuing catastrophic risk insurance coverage will allow them to reduce their budget volatility,” Best said.

The Government of Haiti has also taken steps, with the support of its development partners, to design and implement development projects that incorporate natural hazard risk reduction and adaptation to climate change as core elements of these initiatives.

This approval complements ongoing work by CDB in Haiti, focused on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. On May 22, the Bank’s Board of Directors also approved a project to improve climate resilience and disaster risk management on Ile-a-Vache, an island off Haiti’s southern peninsula that suffered extensive damage from Hurricane Matthew.