The leasing market could grow by 10% in 2009

The leasing market might see a 10% growth at best in 2009, in the case of an optimistic prognosis, as the level of funding will be on a par with this year"s for the vehicle, equipment and real estate sectors, stated Adriana Ahciarliu, the secretary general of the Financial Companies Association in Romania (ALB).

Mrs. Ahciarliu clarified that this a personal opinion and not an estimate made by her as a secretary general of ALB. Mrs. Ahciarliu stated: "The average European annual growth varies between 5 and 12%. The leasing market is reaching maturity from a supply-demand report point of view. Our country might log a growth similar to that of the European markets that have not been affected by the crisis ", Mrs. Ahciarliu mentioned.

She also added, that the leasing services that companies offer could stand to become more sophisticated, while operating lease has potential for growth in 2009. The ALB"s Secretary General considers that the vehicle leasing market will continue to hold an important market share of the total leasing market, even if its upward trend were to slow down. "Third quarter results were affected by the introduction of the pollution tax starting on July 1st 2008, which slowed down the growth dynamic. October and November have also been affected by the pollution tax, with its effects compounded by the state of panic created by the turmoil in the international markets ", Mrs. Ahciarliu further added, who estimates a stagnation of the market for the month of November.

Mihaela Mateescu, General Manager of Raiffeisen Leasing, considers that the Romanian leasing market is currently faced with an increase of refinancing costs and with a growing difficulty in collecting the leasing payments, and these factors will affect the business volume. "These problems will unavoidably affect the volume of financed goods, causing an adjustment in interest rates, and also a more careful analysis of financing requests, of the customer"s creditworthiness, in order to minimize involved risks", Mrs. Mateescu further stated.

She also stated that Raiffeisen Leasing also feels the shrinking of business, given the current economic crisis. "One of the reasons is the fact that we are more cautious about the requests for funding and we are a lot more careful about who we finance, especially companies operating in economic fields which are affected by the crisis, another reason being the fact that most companies are waiting for things to settle down ", Raiffeisen Leasing"s general director further added.

The Romanian leasing market still has the conditions for growth, as companies are very carefully watching their costs, considers Mr. Mateescu, who doesn"t believe however, that next year will bring about spectacular growth.

Concerning the Government"s decision to triple the pollution tax for second hand vehicles starting December 15th, Mrs. Ahciarliu considers that, " it is welcome, but the decision was made kind of late".

For 2008, she estimates that the leasing market could reach 5,5 - 5,7 billion Euros, below the ALB"s initial estimate of 6 billion, which would represent an 11% increase as against 2007, ALB"s secretary general further stated.