The Federal Reserve is rolling out another plan to help local governments and businesses during the coronavirus pandemic — to the tune of $2.3 trillion.
The "Main Street Lending Program" allows up to $600 billion total in loans for businesses. Companies that borrow money won't have to worry about principal or interest payments for the rest of the year.
It also includes up to $500 billion total in loans to state and local governments, and will allow up to $850 billion total to help increase the flow of credit to households.
In a statement, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said, "The Fed's role is to provide as much relief and stability as we can during this period of constrained economic activity, and our actions today will help ensure that the eventual recovery is as vigorous as possible."
This is just the latest move by the Fed to help the economy during the coronavirus pandemic. It's already bought more than $1 trillion in mortgage-backed securities, and has also lowered interest rates from 1.75% to 0.25% just in the past few months.
