September 14: The government has decided to release Rs 1 billion to settle the insurance claims related to Covid-19 which has been pending since a long time. A meeting of the Council of Ministers held last week took a decision to this effect.

Insurance companies are yet to settle insurance claims of more than Rs 11 billion related to coronavirus due to the delay on part of the government to release the funds. The government, the Insurance Board and the insurance companies are all responsible for settling the claims related to coronavirus.

It may be noted that all non-life insurance companies had denied the settlement of coronavirus insurance claims in July 2020 after the government delayed the release of the allocated budget.

All 20 non-life insurance companies formally stopped the payment of coronavirus insurance since July 29, 2020 at the call of the Nepal Insurers Association.

The companies had delayed the settlement of claims related to coronavirus insurance citing the delay on part of the government in releasing the budget. The companies argued that they were facing difficulties in settling the claims from their funds after the government failed to release the promised money.

Later in December the same year, the insurance companies started expediting the process of claims settlement following assurance from the Ministry of Finance.