At a cabinet meeting on August 29, 2025, Prime Minister Judith Suminwa announced the creation of an inter-ministerial commission to assess the sector and propose a "thorough reform" to make it "more competitive and bring it up to international standards."

This decision marks an abrupt change in direction. At a previous cabinet meeting on April 11, the government had already adopted a bill to amend the country’s insurance code. At that time, the next step was to submit the text for parliamentary review.

No official explanation has been given for the change of course. The most recent cabinet meeting minutes simply outlined three new pillars for the reform: expanding insurance coverage to all sectors of the national economy; strengthening local reinsurance capacity to limit capital flight; and strategically using the sector’s resources to finance the economy. The government aims to transform the sector into a "strategic pillar of economic development."

The previously adopted bill had already aimed to meet these goals. The minutes from the April meeting stated that the text corrected technical and material errors and introduced new measures to help the sector "fully play its role" in the economy and align with international norms. These included integrating micro-insurance to promote financial inclusion, mandating a minimum subscription by insurance companies in government securities, adopting digital technologies, diversifying premium payment methods, strengthening policyholder rights, and creating a General Directorate of Insurance to oversee mandatory insurance and manage guarantee funds.

The DRC's insurance sector was liberalized in 2015, but effective implementation began only in 2019. Since then, the market has expanded significantly, with revenue growing from $70 million in 2019 to over $350 million in 2024.

Despite this growth, several challenges persist, including low compliance with mandatory insurance, premium flight, a lack of insurance literacy among the population, and a general distrust of insurance companies.

Pierre Mukoko & Boaz Kabeya