Under the auspices of the Niger Finance Ministry, CMI is the latest of several similar institutions throughout the world that seek to alleviate poverty via small, low-interest loans.

With microcredit, a concept pioneered in Bangladesh by economist Muhammad Yunus, entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans are provided very small sums to start their own enterprises.

Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month for his work throughout the impoverished South Asian country.

Here in Niger CMI relies on financial backing from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and receives additional support from the International Mutual Credit Center (CICM).

Created in 1979 with the goal of promoting banking services for people in developing countries, the CICM has more than 17 mutual credit federations operating in central and west Africa including Sengal, Mali and Cameroon.

According to Patricia Lavocat, who is in charge of CICM's operations, their objective is simple: to allow the poor to borrow.

"We are not capitalists, we make banking human," the president of CICM, Georges Coudray, who came to Niger for the opening of the bank, told AFP.

It will cost around 3,000 CFA francs (4.50 euros) to open a bank account at one of CMI's new branches, and all banking operations, such as deposits and withdrawals are free.

After three months of regular deposits, a client will be able to obtain a 12-month loan with an interest rate of less than 2.0 percent per month.

"It is not unusual to see a woman deposit 500 CFA francs (.80 euros) each day," said Antoine Didonna, the director of the project in Niamey.

"Dealing with someone who comes to deposit even 1,000 FCA per day is very expensive at a regular bank," he said. "We offer them good quality banking services at a very small cost and little by little, people build up savings."

According to Didonna, "the object of the loan is verfied beforehand to be sure that, for example, the borrower does not buy a motorcycle instead of a water pump."

All the loans, said Coudray, "are to be approved by volunteer elected officials seated on the credit committee of each agency. With this system, everyone knows everyone else, and the loans are allocated by consensus."

Coudray said the poor are good at honoring their debts, with less than 1.0 percent of loans allotted by Senegal's Mutual Credit having resulted in litigation.

CMI hopes to open four additional branches in Niamey, as well as one in the small city of Dogondoutchi in southern Niger.

In the meantime, Niger's new bank could face an uphill climb.

Despite the presence of NGO-supported microcredit programs, individual savings rates in Niger are five time lower than in other countries in the region, according to the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO).

Georges Coudray expressed confidence, however.

"Each time that we have arrived in a country, they told us that people do not save (their money), and each time we end up with records showing savings rates in our branches."

Located on the southwestern edge of the Sahara Desert, Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world. Two thirds of its 12.5-million-strong population live below the poverty line, according to the International Monetary Fund, and another third qualify as extremely poor.