hailand risks losing its attractiveness as an Asean manufacturing hub among foreign investors if the country cannot rebuild confidence within the insurance community that this year's floods will not be repeated, says Finance Minister Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala.
Insurers have not begun a comprehensive assessment of flood losses. The Office of the Insurance Commission tentatively put losses at 140 billion baht, including damages to seven industrial estates in Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani.
Fitch Ratings, a credit agency, last week noted 80% of that figure was expected to be covered by Japanese insurers. Insurance payments are expected to go primarily to the corporate sector to cover direct flood damage as well as business disruption losses.
Mr Thirachai said looking forward, global insurers who offer reinsurance for policies written in Thailand will want reassurances that a comprehensive flood management programme will be put in place to help mitigate losses from any future floods.
If reinsurance coverage is unavailable, or priced exorbitantly high, it would be a severe negative for the country's business environment, as foreign and local investors would have to consider the added costs and risks before committing to a new investment project in the country.
Mr Thirachai said ministry officials have called on global reinsurers to discuss the situation and seek assurances that insurance coverage will continue to be available in the future.
But many have already said that industries operating in high-risk flood areas will be considered either uninsurable or else policyholders must carry risks of up to 90%.
"If non-life insurance is not available for industries, then it will be a severe disruption for businesses and their risk management. At the end of the day, multinational companies will simply move their production bases to other countries," Mr Thirachai said.He said the government was committed to putting in place a long-term comprehensive system to guard against flooding.
For now, authorities are focused on reconstruction assistance for companies and households. The government has announced a 15-billion-baht soft loan package for industrial estate operators to finance construction of dykes and flood walls to guard their areas.
The government will also limit rice production to just two crops per year in the central and lower central plains, in order to free up land for use as catchment areas during the rainy season as well as reduce the water levels needed to be maintained in the upper Northern dams for use in irrigation. Compensation will be offered to affected farmers.
Areepong Bhoocha-oom, the finance permanent secretary, said companies operating in the seven flooded industrial estates had flood and business interruption coverage of 600 billion baht.
Authorities estimate claims of around 30% of the total coverage or 200 billion baht. All locally written policies were reinsured overseas, with 60% of the reinsurance cover taken by the Japanese.
The government has also announced a 40-billion-baht loan programme to assist flood-hit businesses, with interest rates fixed at 3% per year for the first three years. Funding will be split between the government and commercial banks.
The Small Business Credit Guarantee Corporation, an agency controlled by the Finance Ministry, will offer loan guarantees of up to 30% for small business loan portfolios of local banks to encourage lending.