The recovery of the Bulgarian leasing business from the World Financial Crisis 2008-2009, which started back in 2010, did not reach the levels of new business from 2008 (the highest on record for the country). Restrictions on economic activity and the movement of people imposed in Bulgaria in order to limit the spread of Covid-19 led to a sharp decline in the new leasing business in March 2020. The decline was so strong that it affected the volume of new business throughout the quarter.
The new leasing business in the first quarter of 2020 is BGN 466 million. This is 14.83% less than the levels at the end of 2019 and as much as 16.13% compared to the first quarter of 2019.
There is a decline in all market segments, the most significant being in “Commercial Vehicles” – the new leasing business here has fallen by over 40% compared to the first quarter of 2019 (see our article on the topic).
Unfortunately, we cannot expect anything more promising from the data for the second quarter of the year, when the “non-working months” will be much more.
