In the third quarter, the U.S. exceeded market consensus expectations  2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  and, although inventory accumulation played a part, the improved performance of the housing and labor markets, combined with better entrepreneurial and consumer expectations, the behavior of stock and other asset prices and, in particular, the lower intensity of the fiscal adjustment suggest that next year the country will outperform its 2013 figures. The recovery of the Japanese economy is still ongoing, but the tax increases announced for 2014 will taper economic growth. The Eurozone posted positive growth for the second consecutive quarter, although less than expected by the consensus. Worth noting were the slower growth of Germany and the contraction of the French economy and, on a positive note, that some of the peripheral economies grew again. Emerging economies have slowed down further and consensus forecasts have seen new downward revisions. In China, after a substantial correction to its growth projections in the first half of the year, recent data show growth stabilizing around 7.5 percent, quite less than in recent years, however. The baseline scenario assumes that the Chinese economy will slow further to reach 7.2 percent annually in 2015, which points to the need to continue to restructure its sources of growth and resolve some of the vulnerabilities of its financial system. In the rest of the emerging world, economic activity continues to moderate, leading some economies to lower their benchmark rates.
This contributed to better provision of insurance services at competitive prices and coverage, thereby, achieving higher growth rates in the market. The number of insurance and reinsurance companies at the end of the third quarter of 2013 stood at 34 in addition to 180 insurance-related service companies to support insurance services. Gross written premiums stood at SAR 19.2 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2013, compared to SAR 15.7 billion in 2012, growing by 22.3 percent. The ratio of insurance written premiums to GDP stood at 0.69 percent up to the third quarter of 2013, indicating significant opportunities of growth for this sector in the coming years. SAMA attached great attention to insured persons’ rights. The Implementation Regulation of The Cooperative Insurance Companies Control Law obligates insurance companies to settle customers’ claims in a period not exceeding 15 days. SAMA supervises companies’ compliance with the provisions of this article on a continuous basis. Ladies and gentlemen, In the area of finance, SAMA has published the Implementing Regulations for the Finance Laws, and issued Implementing Regulations of the Financial Leasing Law in coordination with the Ministry of Justice. It has also issued the Implementing Regulations of the Finance Companies Control Law. In this context, SAMA applies the best internationally recognized practices, ensuring the soundness of the sector and its stability, fairness of its transactions, in addition to encouraging legitimate and fair competition between finance companies, taking appropriate means to develop the sector, working on Saudization of jobs, and raising efficiency of its employees.