Are non-performing loans sensitive to macroeconomic determinants? an empirical evidence from banking sector of SAARC countries

The study empirically investigates selected macroeconomic determinants of non-performing loans (NPLs) for a panel of 8 South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka), using annual data for the period 2008-2019. To examine the association, this study, primarily, conducted the OLS model, fixed effect estimates, and random effect estimates and, eventually, applied robust fixed effect estimates to resolve the problem of heteroscedasticity. The empirical findings confirmed the previous findings, indicating a significant positive association with the government budget balance and a significant inverse relationship with GDP, sovereign debt, inflation rate, and money supply. To reduce the aggregate NPLs in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation economy, the respective country's government should identify the financial sector's vulnerabilities and, thereby, emphasize boosting the economic growth, ensuring a moderate level of money supply along with inflation rate. The findings are useful for formulating macro-prudential along with fiscal policies to avoid the subsequent NPLs shock in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries.