Fed will provide monthly disclosures on support programmes
THE FEDERAL Reserve, the central bank of the United States, says it will provide monthly reports on several of its economic rescue programmes supported by the US$2 trillion rescue programme passed by the US Congress.
The central bank is “committed to transparency and accountability by providing the public and Congress detailed information about our actions to support the economy during this difficult time,” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said.
The Fed said that it will supply the names and details about participants in the programmes. It will also disclose the amounts borrowed and the interest rates being charged on the loans, as well as the Fed programmes’ overall costs, revenues and fees.
The rescue effort has come under criticism after disclosures that some major publicly traded companies had obtained forgiveable loans from the government’s Paycheck Protection
Program. The programme quickly ran out of money, leaving many small and midsize companies unable to obtain the loans.
Congress on Thursday passed legislation providing more support for the programme and Treasury has said it will seek to get some companies to give back the support they received.
The Fed’s monthly disclosures will cover programmes it has established to bolster the economy using support from the US$2 trillion coronavirus relief bill that Congress passed last month. The bill provided US$454 billion to Treasury to use to support up to US$4.5 trillion in Fed lending through such programmes as a Main Street Lending Program.
Other support programmes that the Fed has rolled out that do not receive support from the rescue package will not be subject to monthly reporting requirements.
The Fed said that for some of these programmes, the specific support amounts and those receiving the loans will not be revealed until one year after the programme has ended. It said this delayed reporting is in line with requirements in the Dodd-Frank Act, which was passed in 2010 to deal with bank abuses uncovered during the 2008 financial crisis.
The House, meanwhile, also voted Thursday to create a new subcommittee that will track the aid. The House Oversight and Reform subcommittee will supplement the work of other watchdogs, including a committee of inspectors general, a congressional panel of experts and a special Treasury Department official.