NAIROBI, Kenya (Bloomberg) - Kenya's insurance industry expects to pay out 1.7 billion shillings ($222 million) to cover property claims after violence in about 20 towns and cities following elections last December.

Insurers have put aside 1.2 billion shillings and expect to reserve another 500 million shillings for claims from companies still compiling statistics, the Nairobi-based Association of Kenya Insurers said in a statement today. More than half of insurers have collected claims data for January.

The data include the worst-hit areas of Nyanza, Uasin Gishu and Rift Valley provinces, the association said. Insurers already have agreed to pay out some claims, though most policies have political violence-exclusion clauses, in order to boost relations with clients affected by the turmoil, it said.

More than 1,000 people have died in violence sparked by President Mwai Kibaki's election on December 27.

The unrest displaced as many as 310,000 people and caused $3.7 billion in damage to the economy, the United Nations estimates.

Raila Odinga's opposition Orange Democratic Movement says the vote was rigged.

The fighting may slow growth in the 40 billion-shilling insurance industry, the association said. The industry has 40 insurers, more than 200 insurance brokerages, about 1,000 insurance agencies and 3,000 insurance agents.