Determinants of Financial performance of Microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Ethiopia

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to investigate and analyze the Determinants of financial performance in the case of selected micro finance institutions (MFIs) in Ethiopia, with specific emphasis on how Capital to Asset ratio, Firms growth rate, Portfolio at Risk, Operating Efficiency ratio, Age of MFI, real gross domestic product growth, Size of MFI, and Government support affect financial self-sufficiency of the MFIs in Ethiopia. Quantitative research approach was used, and the study included a selected sample of 22 MFIs in Ethiopia covering a time period of nine years from 2015 to 2023 (198 observations). The study employed secondary data collection method and the data were obtained from the financial annual reports of MFIs that were available in the national bank of Ethiopia. Fixed effect was used for the Panel data regression analysis of variables. To test the accuracy of the model, the researcher has employed important classical regression assumption tests. The fixed effect regression model’s result coefficient of determination (R-squared) was 0.706, implying that 70.6% of variation in financial performance is explained by the independent variables used in the study. The result of the study indicated that MFIs’ financial performance is significantly influenced by Capital adequacy ratio; MFIs’ size, MFIs’ growth and Age of MFIs. Whereas, portfolio at risk, operating efficiency, gross domestic product, and government support have no significant effect on financial performance of the selected MFIs in Ethiopia.