Impact of Macroeconomic Variables on Islamic Banks Profitability

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to understand and determine the impact of macroeconomic variables on Islamic banks’ profitability in Brunei. The impact of GDP growth rate, inflation, interest rate, exchange rate, oil prices, competition and money supply on Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD) profitability was determined from the year 2012 to the year 2016. The secondary data was obtained from DEPD, AMBD and IMF annual reports. The collected data was analysed using Stata 15. The fixed effects panel regression technique was adopted to measure the impact of each variable on Islamic banks’ profitability. The findings revealed that GDP growth rate, inflation, exchange rate, oil prices and money supply have a significant positive impact on profitability. The findings further revealed that oil prices, GDP and inflation were the most significant and exchange rate and money supply were the least significant determinants of profitability. The findings suggest the regulators and policy makers to discover alternative resources to rejuvenate economic and financial system. Islamic bankers may revamp its marketing strategies to reduce the intensity of macroeconomic variables. This study has vigorously contributed in the existing literature of single country analysis of Islamic banks particularly in the context of Brunei.