Impact of Interest Rate Changes on the Profitability of four Major Commercial Banks in Pakistan

Abstract

The core objective of this project is to analyze the impact of interest rates changes on the profitability of commercial banks being operated in Pakistan by examining the financial statements of four major banks during 2008 to 2012. Like the efficiency of banking sector is considered most important for economic growth, monetary policy implementation and macro-economic stability. From the past few years, interest spread of banking sector of Pakistan is rising. As a result variations in the interest rate depress the savings and investment and on the other hand it increases the efficiency of banks’ lending. In this paper interest rate is an independent variable and bank profitability is a dependent variable. To examine the impact of interest rate changes on the profitability of commercial banks in Pakistan, Pearson correlation method is used in this study. As a result it is found that there is strong and positive correlation between interest rate and commercial banks’ profitability. It means if the value of interest rate is increases/decreases then as result value of banks’ profitability will also increases/decreases.