This year, the financial lease portfolio is expected to remain at last year's level, but the transport and consumer lease segments will probably grow, the daily writes.
According to data from the Lithuanian Banks' Association, the financial lease portfolio last year contracted by 668 million litas (EUR 194 mln), or more than 11 percent, to 5.34 billion litas, following a decline of 1.76 billion litas, or nearly 23 percent, in 2010.
"One of the reasons behind the contraction in 2011 was the economic situation, which was unfavorable for investment," the paper quoted Nordea Finance Lithuania CEO Rimas Petrauskas as saying.
Einoras Čiagus, the head of the Financing Services Unit at Swedbank, estimates that the financial lease portfolio contracts by almost 1 percent monthly due to amortization.
Experts note that investments in production equipment were quite moderate last year, which caused the financial lease segment portfolio to contract and affected the overall market trends.
