Original disclosure @ DFC website
Updated in EWS May 30, 2025
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According to the Bank’s website, the project consists of a loan portfolio guaranty to support increased lending under the Village Fund program.
The Project will support up to $5,000,000 in new loans disbursed to Village Funds in Laos PDR. PSVB administers the Village Fund Program which provides unsecured loans to “Village Funds”, small-scale financial services groups. The bank provides loan(s) to each Village Fund to execute projects against a business plan that help generate income and improve livelihoods in their village/community. The Village Fund program is a specialized program tailored to serve village populations that have been underserved by the financial sector and is the only program in Laos PDR that allows village populations to access finance from a commercial bank at reasonable rates.
DFC loans to financial institutions who will utilize the loan to expand their small, and medium enterprise lending are screened as a Financial Intermediary C (FI-C) for environmental and social assessment. These downstream investments are expected to result in minimal adverse environmental and social impacts. Therefore, all those downstream investments have been pre-screened as low risk and further review and consent is not required for these investments.
According to the Company’s website, Phongsavanh Bank (PSVB) was the first and is the leading private bank in Lao PDR. It provides a comprehensive range of financial services to over 350,000 retail, SME, corporate and institutional customers through 60 branches and an extensive ATM network.
No contacts available at the time of disclosure.
ACCESS TO INFORMATION
Unlike many other development finance institutions, DFC does not currently have an access to information policy.
Under the United States Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), DFC is obliged to respond to reasonably formulated requests for Agency records. However, DFC may apply exemptions from release to certain types of information and may charge fees in responding to requests. DFC has a designated FOIA officer who is trained in how to respond to requests and implement the law. You can learn more about filing a FOIA request at: https://www.dfc.gov/foia
ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF THE UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FINANCE CORPORATION (DFC)
The Office of Accountability is an independent office that addresses complaints about environmental or social issues related to DFC-supported projects. The office provides communities an opportunity to have concerns independently reviewed and addressed. If you submit a complaint to the Office of Accountability, it may assist you by either seeking to address your problems by facilitating a problem solving dialogue between you and those implementing the project and/or investigating whether the DFC complied with its policies to prevent environmental, social, human rights, and labor harms.
You can find more information about the Office of Accountability at: https://www.dfc.gov/who-we-are/office-accountability