All insurance contracts will be written in both Kiswahili and English languages from this month, the Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority (Tira) directed Friday.
Tira says the move will help improve public understanding and uptake of insurance products in the country where Kiswahili is widely spoken and the national and official language.
Tanzania has a huge insurance market potential that remains untapped. The government aims to have at least 50 percent of the adult population (about 20 million people from the current five million) take up insurance products by 2030.
Tanzanians, including traders, have complained that the use of the English language in insurance contracts makes it difficult for most locals to grasp the policies.
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“The languages in agreements will be two – English and Kiswahili, starting from the financial year 2023/2024 so that we can reach our goal of 2030,” Tira commissioner general Baghayo Saqware said.
Dr Saqware added that at a recent meeting with insurers, they had agreed to issue payment papers drafted in Kiswahili.
“We have agreed that the payment documents given to insurance customers should be written in Kiswahili and have started to be used,” he said.
The chairperson of the Insurance Agents Association of Tanzania (IAAT), Sai Daudi, there are about 30 insurance companies in the country with more than 1,200 agents.