Tunisia ministry of industry, energy
Download 1.85 Mb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- Leasing in Tunisia .
- Typology of leases granted.
- Current limitations of leasing in Tunisia.
3.2. Leasing.67. Several studies have underlined leasing’s usefulness to companies, for it can improve SMEs’ access to financing. Leasing is a contractual agreement whereby, at the request of a customer (lessee), a financial leasing company (lessor) acquires the ownership of tangible or intangible capital assets for professional use, in order to lease them to said customer for a specified period of time against the payment of periodic leasing or rental installments. Leasing enables enterprises to invest in equipment without substantially worsening their financial situation because the lessee may record the rental installments in its accounts under operating costs. Leasing is often used to acquire vehicles, computer hardware and industrial equipment because maintenance guarantees may be included in the lease contract. Leasing in Tunisia.68. Leasing was introduced in 1984 with the creation of Tunisia’s first leasing company, Tunisie Leasing. The sector currently boasts 11 companies, 10 of which are actually operational. Seven leasing companies are owned by banks and five are listed on the stock exchange. The first three companies account for nearly 60 percent of the market (Table A. 5Error: Reference source not found). On a comparative basis (Chart 21), leasing appears to be relatively developed in Tunisia; although lower than in Morocco, the White Clarke ratio (1.6) in Tunisia is higher than in Egypt and many other countries. This type of activity enjoyed strong growth in recent years and consist mainly, in Tunisia like elsewhere, in equipment rental (Table 4) Chart 21. Leasing - White Clarke 2007 GDP penetration ratio. 
Source: Euromoney yearbook (2009). Table 4. Leasing in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia (2007). 
69. In recent years, leasing has gained significant ground in Tunisian SMEs as a source of funding for fixed asset investment. The leasing sector has seen a steady growth of contracts of about 22 percent between 2006 and 2008, bringing the volume of leasing business to TND 822.7 million in 2008 (USD 641.9 million). Leasing penetration in gross fixed capital formation reached 10.6 percent in 2008, against 11.4 percent in 2007. This growth is a result of the renewal of the transport fleet in some sectors, fostered by the falling cost of financing and by the synergies developed between some companies in the sector and parent banks’ branch network in searching for new customers (BCT 2009). 70. The sector’s portfolio quality has improved substantially, with the share of classified receivables shrinking from 25.1 percent in 2003 to 11.4 percent in 2008, even as the coverage ratio posted a sharp increase from 40.9 percent in 2003 to 77.8 percent in 2008 (Chart 22). These results were achieved by most leasing companies thanks to a more rigorous management and some of these companies’ use of scoring tools in the loan approval process. Chart 22. Leasing – Assets quality. 
Source: BCT. 71. The combined effect of the growth in new leasing contracts and the improvement in the quality of the credit portfolio led to a significant 8.9 percent increase in outstanding leases between 2007 and 2008 (bringing them to TND 1380.3 million at end 2008, or USD 1077 million). This was financed mainly through borrowing (bank resources – 41.3 percent and bonds – 38.7 percent). Typology of leases granted.72. The type of assets that can be leased and the type of leasing beneficiary (lessee) is relatively varied and depends largely on the policies and strategies implemented by each leasing company. The indications below show recent trends in assets leased, sectors and type of lessees:
The advantages of leasing for Tunisian SMEs.73. The leasing industry has expanded considerably in Tunisia in recent years because it meets some of the needs of Tunisian SMEs: A company applying for leasing finance does not need to provide collateral or present its financial history; The fact that legal ownership of the leased assets remains with the lessor (at least until the expiry of the lease contract) minimizes the implicit risks and makes leasing approval easier than traditional credit approval; From the leasing request to the implementation of the transaction, transaction execution time is significantly shorter than for a bank loan. Current limitations of leasing in Tunisia.Institutional constraints. The absence of a secured transaction registry may be an obstacle to the development of a more robust financial leasing industry in Tunisia. A secured transaction registry, in which lessors and lessees officially register their contracts and the assets they cover, provides comfort and security to both parties. Demand side constraints: The difficulty of obtaining funding for specialized equipment. Given the need to reduce the potential losses stemming from a potential inability to resell equipment, leasing companies have a very high tendency to finance standardized equipment and materials (for instance, transport vehicles and construction machines). The proportion of credit assigned to these assets is around 70 percent of total assets, followed by real estate, which accounts for 12-18 percent depending on the company. The proportion of credits allocated to SMEs’ production equipment (machinery and equipment) is only around 10-12 percent. Leasing companies are reluctant to grant leases for specialized equipment because there is no secondary market for them. This makes leasing considerably less attractive to industrial SMEs; The cost of financing financial leases is still a significant constraint for SMEs. Leasing interest rates and repayments are generally higher than those for traditional bank loans. This is mainly due to the higher refinancing costs in the leasing industry36 (this refinancing is usually carried out by issuing bonds on the stock market at interest rates that are higher than money market rates or by borrowing money from Banks). Supply side constraints. In spite of the use of specialized models, it is still difficult to assess SME’s ability to pay leasing installments in accordance with the terms of the leasing contract. This limits the amounts of leasing transactions. Directory: curated curated -> Concept stage curated -> Concept stage curated -> Republic of Côte d'Ivoire Urbanization Review curated -> Report No: aus11011 Central America curated -> Report No. 94474-pk fiscal Disaster Risk Assessment Options for Consideration curated -> Environmental and Social Management Framework for the Costa Rica Telecommunications Sector Modernization Project curated -> Environment Impact Assessment For Jiangxi Shangrao Sanqingshan Airport Beijing Guohuantiandi Environmental Technology Development Center. Ltd. Oct. 2012 Content curated -> Growth through Innovation An Industrial Strategy for Shanghai By Shahid Yusuf Kaoru Nabeshima April 22nd, 2009 curated -> Report No: 70178. People's Republic of China Download 1.85 Mb. Share with your friends:
|