TWO Cambodian micro-finance institutions have received loans worth US$8 million from Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries.

The MFIs, Prasac and Sathapana, were loaned $4 million each by BIO to hand on to clients, according to a press release.

Sathapana chairman Bun Mony expected all of the money to have been dispersed by the end of September.

Sathapana, which grew into an MFI in 2001 out of a nongovernmental organisation providing financial advice and health education to poor communities, had almost 40,000 clients and loans on its book, ranging from $50 to as much as $15,000, with an average loan size of $1,100, he said.

Prasac had not yet begun lending its $4 million, general manager Sim Senacheert said.

BIO’s money was still in the bank, as the lender had received $11 million of other overseas funds to allocate first.

Sim Senacheert said BIO set the conditions on which its money could be loaned out, but that they were “very lax”. “It’s not really heavy or strict,” he said.

Prasac had 96,000 clients and an average loan size of $1,100, he said.