Impact of Capital Structure on Profitability of Commercial Banks in Tanzania

This paper aims to examine the impact of capital structure on the profitability of commercial banks in Tanzania using panel data from 2017to 2021. Specifically, the study wants to investigate the impact debt and equity in capital structure on profitability of commercial banks in Tanzania. The study employed panel data research design and used secondary data which were extracted from audited financial statements of commercial banks. Return on assets was used as the dependent variables while independent variables were debt and equity capital as well as the debt-equity ratio. Result from the analysis indicates that initially the variables were not normally distributed which necessitate normalization of variables. Correlation analysis was performed and there was no multicollinearity problem between the variables. Based on Hausman test fixed effect model was selected as the appropriate model. The results from the analysis showed that 1% increase in debt capital increases profitability of commercial bank by 16.79%. The positive debt-profitability coefficient implies opportunities for enhancing profitability of commercial bank through debt financing. Result further revealed that 1 % increase in debt-equity ratio is associated with 18.07% decline in profitability. Which implies negative relationship between debt-equity ratio and profitability. On the other hand, increase in equity finance is associated with decline in profitability holding other factors constant. However, the study recommends a comprehensive assessment and consideration of situational factors while carrying out capital structure decision inverse relationship between debt-equity ratio also implies that excessive debt may pose financial risk and make the company less attractive to potential investors. DOI: https://doi.org/10.59857/IJABS1606