Sri Lanka war risk insurance rating lowered

June 19, 2009 (LBO) - International underwriters in London have lowered the war risk rating for Sri Lanka following the defeat by government forces of Tamil Tigers, paving the way for reducing insurance premiums on sea and air cargo. Sri Lanka is the global war risk list. The underwriters still have not reduced the surcharge premiums, a senior official at the IBSL said.

This is the first step to remove Sri Lanka from the list.

Approximately 27 countries are in the 'severe' category of the global war risk list, which includes Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Oman, North Korea, Egypt and Jordan.

The Joint War Committee of the London market has listed Sri Lanka as a ˜high risk country’, which led to higher insurance premiums on ships carrying cargo to Sri Lanka.

The Insurance Board of Sri Lanka and the shipping and insurance industry are lobbying for the removal of war risk surcharges, now that the ethnic war has ended.

Up dated

The London market's Joint Cargo Committee (JCC) has lowered the risk rating from 3.4 to 3.0, in effect changing the status from ˜severe’ to ˜high’, the government information department said.

The move follows ne