Insurance business has become a new growth pole of Macao's economy, as the city's total gross insurance premium income topped 1.89 billion patacas (236 million US dollars) in 2004.

The Macao Monetary Authority, which oversees the insurance supervision, said on Friday that the insurance income registered a 19.4 percent annual growth rate in 2004, as the performance of the sector was in line with the overall economic take-off.

The bureau's figures showed that the non-life insurance achieved a 15.1 percent increase to 450 million patacas (56 million US dollars). While, driven by investment-linked insurance products, total premium of life insurance reached 1.44 billion patacas (180 million US dollars), representing a yearly growth of 20.8 percent.

Anselmo Teng, president of the bureau, said that the private pension fund scheme, which is an integral component of the social security system, is playing an increasingly important role to maintain social security and enhance the quality of life of local inhabitants. Assets under the fund management totaled 770 million patacas (96 million US dollars) in 2002, but climbed up to 2 billion patacas (250 million US dollars) in 2004, representing a growth of 2.6 times in two years.