CCRIF SPC Makes Excess Rainfall Payout to Trinidad and Tobago

CCRIF SPC has paid out approximately $2.4 million to the government of Trinidad and Tobago following an August 18–20 rainfall event.

The heavy rainfall resulted in flooding and landslides across southern and western Trinidad, making several roads impassable.

In a statement, CCRIF said that due to different hazard risk profiles for each of the islands in the twin-island republic, the government purchases two separate CCRIF policies for excess rainfall—one for Trinidad and one for Tobago. This payout is being made on the excess rainfall policy for Trinidad.

Since Trinidad and Tobago first purchased coverage for excess rainfall in 2017, the country has received excess rainfall policy payouts each year, CCRIF said, totaling $12.5 million. The government also has coverage for tropical cyclones (again, one policy for Trinidad and one for Tobago) as well as coverage for earthquakes.

This latest payout brings the total number CCRIF has made since its inception in 2007 to 54, totaling approximately $245 million to 16 of its 23 members.

A member country's policy is triggered when the modeled loss for a hazard event in a country equals or exceeds the attachment point selected by the country and specified in the policy contract. The parametric structure of CCRIF's insurance contracts allows the facility to disburse funds to governments with 14 days of an event.

CCRIF is not designed to cover all losses on the ground resulting from a catastrophe. Instead, it is intended to provide a source of quick liquidity to governments as additional resources are mobilized to assist with the longer-term recovery and redevelopment processes following a catastrophe.

Earlier this month, CCRIF made its largest payout to date to Haiti. That $40 million payout followed the 7.2 earthquake that struck that country on August 14.

Previously known as the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility Segregated Portfolio Company, CCRIF SPC is a segregated portfolio company that is owned, operated, and registered in the Caribbean. It limits the financial impact of such disasters as catastrophic hurricanes, earthquakes, and excess rainfall events on the Caribbean and Central American governments by quickly providing short-term liquidity when a parametric insurance policy is triggered.

CCRIF SPC was developed under the technical leadership of the World Bank and with a grant from the government of Japan. It was capitalized through contributions to a multidonor trust fund by the government of Canada, the European Union, the World Bank, the governments of the United Kingdom and France, the Caribbean Development Bank, and the governments of Ireland and Bermuda as well as through membership fees paid by participating governments.