Bulgarians bought cars for 1.9 billion leva using leasing in 2008. The leasing for transportation vehicles was another 1.5 billion leva. The research was published by the newspaper “Sega” using data from the Bulgarian national bank.

The increase of leasing deals for cars is 54% compared to last year. The increase is even bigger than the one of banking credits, which ended 2008 with an overall growth of 30%. During the last months of 2008, however, the number of leasing deals for cars slowly declined.

Up to September, the growth has been 90%, before decreasing to 54% at the end of 2008. In October, the leasing companies and banks tightened their conditions to customers. Leasing contracts for machines and industrial equipment for business needs have not significantly decreased, despite the financial crisis.