#Coronavirus: 26,000 confirmed cases in the US and the disease has, so far, killed more than 326 people.
New York(ANN)-US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has announced that the Federal Reserve will be allowed to leverage up to $4 trillion of liquidity to support the country’s economy amid a worsening coronavirus crisis.
Mnuchin said on Sunday that the coronavirus economic relief bill being finalized in Congress will also include a one-time $3,000 payment for families.
Under one component of the plan a “significant package working with the Federal Reserve will have up to $4 trillion of liquidity that we can use to support the economy,” Mnuchin told “Fox News Sunday.”
He said the additional liquidity measures for the Federal Reserve aims to help a broad base of American businesses to get through next 90 to 120 days.
The United States is enduring its own fast-growing coronavirus crisis that has seen businesses shut down en masse, workers laid off overnight, schools close and millions of people adjusting to life confined to their homes.
Major states in the United States are implementing stay-at-home directives as the coronavirus death toll nationwide has surged past 300.
There are now over 26,000 confirmed cases in the US and the disease has, so far, killed more than 326 people.
US officials were first saying that the coronavirus stimulus package being negotiated by the US Senate would be worth around $1.3 trillion or $1.4 trillion.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow spoke on Saturday, clarifying comments earlier that the bill would be worth more than $2 trillion.
He initially told reporters “the package is coming in at about 10 percent of GDP.”
Later when asked by reporters if that amounted to more than $2 trillion, Kudlow said, “That’s correct.”
Eric Ueland, the White House legislative liaison, also expanded upon the $2 trillion figure, saying, “The net impact, in combination with the amount that you’ll see pass in the next couple of days, I hope, plus what the Federal Reserve can put in on the table, in combination with what we’re doing, will be well north of $2 trillion.”