Across Africa the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects GDP to rise from 2.8% in 2017 to 3.4% in 2018, benefiting from global growth, higher commodity prices and an improved access to capital markets. The annual Africa Reinsurance Pulse, launched at this month’s 23rd African Reinsurance Forum in Windhoek, Namibia, showed that Africa’s reinsurance premiums increased to an estimated $7.5bn in 2017, up from $6.8bn in 2016, also driven by a strengthening of major currencies against the US dollar.