The Federal Reserve on Thursday said it was making some adjustments to its planned “Main Street” lending program because of public comments and also said it was mulling a separate approach to meet the unique needs of non-profit organizations.
In a statement, the Fed said it would allow firms with slightly more employees to participate in the plan, which is designed to help firms that are neither too small to get government grants nor so big they can access the capital markets.
Firms with up to 15,000 staff or up to $5 billion in annual revenue are now eligible, compared with the initial plan, which were for companies with up to 10,000 employees and $2.5 billion in revenue.
Economists have been hoping the Fed would launch the plan quickly given that the coronavirus pandemic and stay-at-home orders are crippling businesses.
The Fed said that “a start date for the program will be announced soon.”
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday he’s worried the coronavirus epidemic is going to cause lasting damage to the economy and that the federal government will likely need to spend more to help the economy.
On the issue of nonprofit groups, the Fed said that it was “evaluating a separate approach to meet their unique needs.”
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