The Federal Reserve on Tuesday announced a new facility that will allow foreign central banks, including the Reserve Bank of India, to temporarily swap holdings of US treasury debt for dollars.

The facility, effective from April 6, was so far extended to select central banks that did not include the RBI or the People’s Bank of China.

Amid the uncertainty around the coronavirus pandemic, the Fed’s “FIMA repo facility” will allow central banks to exchange US Treasury debt for cash, rather than selling them for bargain prices.