CHIŞINĂU (Imedia) - The leasing market in 2009 fell by nearly three times, down to 412.5 million lei from a 1.236-billion-leu business in 2008 (about 100 million U.S. dollars), says the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Experts are pessimistic about the market's ability to recover in 2010.  

New car sales halved at the beginning of the year after they fell by 50 percent in 2009, which has directly affected leasing companies. At least 90 percent of fixed means provided via leasing last year went to transportation devices, 85 percent of which are vehicles. „The leasing market will not escape the crisis in 2010," say leasing companies, which are not hiding their pessimism.

Economists agree and predict that „the leasing market will continue to be affected in 2010."

„The leasing sector has fallen by about 67 percent in 2009, and the value of means financed via leasing fell under 2006 levels," says Alexandru Pripa, head of BIS Capital Investment House's Mergers and Acquisitions Department. Mr. Pripa adds that the structure of fixed means (transportation, machinery, buildings, and special constructions) leased out have led to the negative results. „The nature of the local leasing market does not currently allow for the investment portfolio to be made more efficient, because since 2006 it has been made up of transportation means to the degree of about 90 percent. Considering the fact that new car sales fell by 53 percent in 2009, and that car imports decreased by 18.2 percent, leasing companies could not not feel the effect on their activity," Mr. Pripa stresses. He explains that „investments in machinery and utility vehicles have decreased by 28.7 percent, and the constructions sector is in a recession, as well."

The leasing market has nowhere to grow given the fact that „the population's incomes have fallen, including the income of businesses taking out leasing contracts," Valeriu Prohnitchi, executive director of the Expert Grup Independent Analysis Center, told JurnalTV.

Statistics confirm the fact that only two out of three clients who have used leasing companies in 2009 took commitments to pay the sum back within three years because they did not have the certainty of a stable income in the long term.

Most of the clients of leasing companies are businesses that more or less need to handle the crisis situation, says Cornelia Cozlovschi, general director with Raiffeisen Leasing. Ms. Cozlovschi is, however, more optimistic and predicts that although there will not exist a definite improvement in 2010, the market could, optimistically speaking, stay at the same level or grow insignificantly.

Everything will depend on how the car market evolves, say economic experts and leasing company experts.

„The evolution of the leasing market in 2010 will be influenced by the general state of the economy. If it increases by 2.5 percent, the leasing market will probably stabilize, in the sense that there will be a stagnation of the negative dynamics registered last year," says Alexandru Pripa.

Three companies suspended their leasing activities in 2009, lowering the total number of businesses offering these services to 24. The market continues to be dominated by a small number of companies, five of which held 67 percent of market value in the country.

According to the latest data offered by state-run Registru, by the first half of April, 7.635 cars were registered compared to 9,831 compared to the same period last year. The speed with which the car market has fallen has subsided, which has provided some hope to leasing companies.