(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. central bank expects to begin purchasing shares of eligible exchange-traded funds as part of its emergency lending programs in early May, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The Fed’s so-called secondary market corporate credit facility and primary market corporate credit facility will begin lending via purchases of corporate bonds soon thereafter, the New York Fed announced Monday on its website.

“Additional details on timing will be made available as those dates approach,” it said.

The credit facilities are backed by the more than $2 trillion economic relief package passed by Congress in March, to help shield the U.S. economy from the harm of the coronavirus pandemic. Businesses across the nation have shuttered to limit contagion and more than 30 million people have claimed unemployment benefits in the last six weeks.

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