The Equipment Leasing Association of Nigeria (ELAN), on Sunday, released a review of the Nigerian leasing industry for 2015.
According to the association’s Executive Secretary, Andrew Efurhievwe, who briefed journalists in Lagos, a review of the past five years, shows a steady growth of the industry even in the face of the economic meltdown.
According to him, available statistics show an impressive 27.39 per cent growth in leasing activities. The volume of outstanding leases grew from N869 billion in 2014 to N1.1 trillion in 2015, and this could be explained based on the developmental attributes of leasing, which makes it attractive whether the economy is witnessing a boom or recession, as is currently the case.
Efurhievwe said “many industries are relying on leasing as a creative financing alternative for capital assets and this has created increased investments from existing lessors and attracted new entrants into the leasing industry to tap into the opportunities in the market.”
He further explained that analysis by sector of the leased volume records in 2015, show that even with the global fall in the price of crude oil, the oil and gas sector still has the highest volume of leased assets.
He said the volume of leased assets in the sector rose from N284 billion in 2014 to N361 billion in 2015 representing 27% growth and 33 per cent of total portfolio.
Next to the oil and gas sector is the transport sector,
recording 21 per cent growth rate from N228 billion in leased asset in 2014 to N290 billion in 2015. Other sectors like telecoms, agriculture and manufacturing as well, also had considerable growths.
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