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Farirai Machivenyika Senior Reporter
The insurance sector has urged the Government to establish special funding instruments if it intends  to borrow to fight Covid-19.

Deputy chairperson of the Zimbabwe Insurance and Pension Apex Council Mr Musa Bako gave the recommendation on Thursday while making a presentation during a meeting with Vice President Kembo Mohadi on the role the insurance sector could play in fighting the pandemic.

The meeting was held at Munhumutapa Building and was convened by the Vice President who chairs the inter-ministerial taskforce on Covid-19.

Mr Bako said the Government should consider establishing a prescribed asset to fund the pandemic.

A prescribed asset is a bond or security issued by the Government, local authorities, quasi-Government organisations or any other bond that may be accorded the prescribed asset status to fund projects.

“We also believe we could make a more profound impact if Government considers the establishment of a Covid-19 prescribed asset to help fund the crisis,” Mr Bako said.

“The issue of value preservation has always been pertinent and we are hoping that working with Government we can come up with an asset that will preserve the value for our shareholders so that being an industry that is very much dependent on savings we believe that if there is a prescribed asset, a fund that is prescribed that asset status, it can go a long way in funding the fight against Covid-19.”

Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube, who also attended the meeting, pledged to engage the industry and further discuss how the proposal could be implemented.

Mr Bako said they were also willing to work with Government and come up with a digitised platform to trace contacts of infected persons. He said insurers were working with Econet to implement the project. “The industry believes it could do a lot more in the management of the pandemic, for instance we have observed that the tracing of contacts of all positives cases is critical and the industry would be working with Government through Insurance and Pensions Commission to enable direct access at the registrar general’s office with the view of setting up a portal that assist Government trace contacts of the affected, which would be a more digitised way of tracing contacts,” said Mr Bako.

“We are working with Econet so far in tracing people who would have tested positive for the virus.”