In Hong Kong, the gross and net premium of general insurance business both recorded growth in first quarter, said the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI) of the Hong Kong government said here Monday.

According to the provisional statistics of the Hong Kong insurance industry for the first quarter of 2004, the gross premiums of general insurance business recorded a growth of 0.1 percent to 6,878 million Hong Kong dollars (881.9 million US dollars) compared with the corresponding period of 2003.

The net premium of general insurance business recorded a growthof 2 percent to 4,855 million Hong Kong dollars (622.4 million US dollars), the provisional statistics showed.

The overall underwriting profit of general insurance business decreased from 480 million Hong Kong dollars (61.5 million US dollars) to 386 million Hong Kong dollars (49.5 million US dollars)compared with the corresponding quarter of 2003, it said.

That was mainly attributable to deterioration in the underwriting profit of Property Damage business which declined from 266 million Hong Kong dollars (34.1 million US dollars) to 150 million Hong Kong dollars (19.2 million US dollars), said the OCI.

Source: Xinhua