UK wants to insure poorer nations against natural disasters

[HAMBURG] The UK will attempt to build a market for insuring countries against natural disaster, with the goal of providing more stable funding for relief from famines and floods.

Prime Minister Theresa May will announce the move at the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, saying Britain will spend £30 million (S$53.46 million) over four years setting up a London Center for Global Disaster Protection to provide cover for developing countries. A further £60 million will be spent building up financial markets in Africa.

"Our international aid work is helping to build Britain's trading partners of the future, creating real alternatives to mass migration, and enhancing our security," Mrs May said in an emailed statement.

This is happening "while simultaneously ensuring we abide by our moral responsibility to meet the immediate humanitarian needs of some of the poorest people on earth," she said.

BLOOMBERG