September 30: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has expressed concern over the halt in payment of Covid-19 insurance. However, the reaction has come almost two months after the settlement of coronavirus insurance claims was stopped. The government had ignored the issue as it was itself responsible for the halt in the settlement of insurance claims.

The finance minister met the chairman of the Insurance Board Surya Prasad Silwal and other representatives on Wednesday, September 30, and directed them to resume the settlement of insurance claims related to Covid-19.

He also expressed his commitment to resolve the issue of ensuring necessary resources and capital required to settle the claims as soon as possible.

Non-life insurance companies have stopped the settlement of Covid-19 insurance claims since the second week of July after the government failed to release the required budget. The previous government had also ignored the issue. However, the Ministry of Finance has shown renewed interest in resolving this problem.

The government is liable to pay more than Rs 3.5 billion to the insurance companies. Clients of those companies have made insurance claims of Rs 13.14 billion as of mid-July 2021 but the government has released only Rs 9.64 billion so far. The insurance companies stopped settling the insurance claims after the government failed to release the amount.