The Association of Leasing Companies of Serbia (ALCS) announced that in the last 20 years, leasing has made it possible to invest more than eight billion euros in financing the basic assets of the Serbian economy, and 250,000 financial leasing contracts have been signed.
“The economy is constantly renewing contracts on financial leasing and financing companies in this way has become an established practice in financing fixed assets, and we have businessmen who are already financing their business for the fourth or fifth time through financial leasing,” said ALCS Secretary General Teodora Milenković.
She added that leasing finances basic assets, which further encourages the development of economic activity in Serbia.
“Leasing is particularly important for the necessary investments of small and medium-sized enterprises because it facilitates investment in business and at the same time increases competitiveness on the domestic and foreign markets,” said Milenković.
According to the Association’s analysis, in the structure of newly concluded contracts over the years, passenger vehicle financing accounted for 41 percent of the portfolio, commercial and freight vehicles for 36 percent, machinery and equipment financing for 22 percent, and real estate for one percent.
In 2022, every third new vehicle sold was financed through leasing.
“In the last 10 years, the average annual growth rate of the leasing industry is as much as 13.3 percent. In the first half of this year, the value of newly concluded contracts increased by 19 percent compared to the same period last year. If this trend continues and is applied to the value of newly concluded financial contracts, leasing from the previous year, when it amounted to 699 million euros, our expectations are that this year the value of financial leasing contracts will reach 830 million euros,” said ALCS president Bojan Vračarević.
The assessment of ALCS is that with the growth and strengthening of the economy, the share of leasing in the financing of economic activity in Serbia will be increasingly significant and that the future of this industry lies both in digitalization and in the green transition.
“Leasing will contribute both to the increase in the number of electric vehicles, and to support the financing of the construction of solar power plants and other types of renewable energy sources, all with the aim of reducing pollution and achieving climate neutrality,” Vračević said.
The financial leasing sector started operating in Serbia 20 years ago, when the first Law on Financial Leasing was passed in 2003, and the Association of Leasing Companies Serbia was founded in 2004.
Most leasing companies are owned by banks.
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