Azerbaijan, Baku, March 12 / Trend A.Akhundov /
The potential of Azerbaijan's leasing market is exceeding its current level by over five times, Jeyhun Naghiyev, director general of the Azerbaijani leasing company Ansar Leasing, established by the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD and member of the Islamic Development Bank), believes.
"We can consider the share of leasing in the country's GDP at about two per cent as being acceptable for market (in 2011 Azerbaijan's GDP in current prices amounted to 50.1 billion manat). In this case, at present the total portfolios of leasing companies should be about one billion manat while today it is no more than 170-180 million manat," Naghiyev told Trend on Monday.
A draft long term strategy of the economic development of Azerbaijan for 2011-2025, prepared by the Ministry of Economic Development, suggests increasing the share of the leasing portfolio in the country's GDP from 0.5 per cent in 2009 to at least three per cent in 2025.
According to the draft strategy, the volume of the leasing market in the country in 2009 amounted to $215 million and by 2025 the portfolio is expected to reach $3.108 billion.
To achieve these goals it is planned to ensure leasing organisations with long-term financial resources authorise the use of accelerated amortisation of leasing facilities and create a specialised fund.
It is also planned to undertake measures to increase the share of leasing as an important financial source in the implementation of large-scale infrastructure and investment projects in the country such as improving the technical support for agriculture.
As many as 24 leasing companies have been officially registered in Azerbaijan, but only 10 and banks offering leasing services are operating.
The official exchange rate is 0.7863 AZN to $1 on March 12.