U.S. banks on April 21 increased emergency borrowing from the Federal Reserve for the first time in five weeks, a sign of lingering strains in the financial sector after a string of bank failures last month.
The Federal Reserve provided $143.9 billion in outstanding loans to financial institutions through its two backstop lending facilities in the week ended April 19, compared with $139.5 billion the previous week, according to data released on Thursday local time.
The Fed’s weekly balance sheet data showed that loans from the Fed’s traditional backstop lending program, known as the discount window, were $69.9 billion, compared with $67.6 billion the previous week and a record $152.9 billion last month.
Funding loans for the new facility (BTFP) also climbed to $74.0 billion from $71.8 billion the previous week.