The Effects of Interest Rate On Borrowing and Investment to The Low Income Earners (A Case Study of Standard Chartered Bank Kampala)

ABSTRACT The study was carried out in the Kampala district to investigate the effects of interest rates on Borrowing and investment by the low-income earners in Standard Chartered Bank. In the study, relevant data were obtained from the libraries such as Kampala International University, Kyambogo University, Makerere University Business School, and the internet. Primary data were obtained through questionnaires and study guides. All the respondents that took part in the study were randomly selected so as to give equal chances to other respondents and the data collected was quantitatively analyzed using tables and qualitatively analyzed using value judgment. In the study, the sample size was forty respondents and it included twenty small micro-enterprise owners, fifteen individual clients, and five bank staff and found out that most of the low-income groups of people don't save with standard Chartered Bank and do not all clients borrow from their bank (Standard Chartered Bank) because of the high-interest rate when saving and the low-interest rate when borrowing from Standard Chartered Bank and thus if these factors are not mitigated, many of the low income earning groups will not invest and their small enterprises will not grow. Based on the findings of the study, a number of policy recommendations have been suggested for example, the government should set up a minimum interest rate for savings and borrowing in all the financial institutions in Uganda in order to encourage the low income earners to save and borrow from any financial institution including Standard Chartered Bank hence facilitating their investment.