The general insurance market fell 6.4 percent in the first seven months, to 4.1 billion lei, while the life insurance market grew 4.8 percent, to 960 million lei.

The head of CSA, Angela Toncescu, declared the insurance market is dominated by car insurance and that people did not give up life insurance.

The indemnities paid by insurers in the first seven months totaled 2.7 billion lei on the general insurance segment and 373 million lei on the life segment. The total reserves amounted to 11.29 billion lei at the end of June, 8 percent up from the same period last year.

The local insurance market ended 2009 with gross premiums written of 8.84 billion lei (2.1 billion euros), 1.1 percent below the level reported in 2008, especially following 13 percent lower businesses on the life insurance segment.