The short-run impact of COVID-19 on the activity in the insurance industry in the Republic of North Macedonia

Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the insurance industry in the Republic of North Macedonia during the first half of 2020. By utilizing seasonal autoregressive models and data for 11 insurance classes, we find that the insurance activity shrank by more than 10% compared to what was expected. The total loss in the industry was, however, much less than the amount of funds made available by the Insurance Supervision Agency. This was because the pandemic induced changes in the activity structure - the share of Motor vehicles class fell at the expense of the property classes.