FRANKFURT - THE European Central Bank published on Tuesday details of its latest operations to boost interbank lending on eurozone money markets.

The central bank has been providing huge amounts of euros, dollars and Swiss francs to eurozone banks to get them lending to each other again after uncertain financial conditions caused the crucial markets to freeze up.

On Tuesday, the ECB said it would lend 52.286 billion dollars (S$79.7 billion) against collateral for 28 days starting on Thursday at a fixed rate of 1.51 per cent.

The ECB will also lend 4.845 billion dollars against euros for 28 days starting on Thursday in a foreign currency exchange, or swap, at a rate of 0.000964 dollars per euro, or 9.64 swap points.

A total of 54 banks requested dollar loans in exchange for collateral, and the amounts lend against collateral indicated a clear preference among eurozone banks for that option, compared with the foreign exchange swaps.

The funds help commercial banks maintain minimum reserves needed to underpin lending to companies that make up the broader eurozone economy.

The ECB and other central banks have pulled out the stops in their efforts to get interbank lending started again.

The markets froze as commercial banks became uncertain that loans to each other would be repaid owing to huge losses being suffered following the collapse of the US market for high-risk, or subprime, mortgages.

Money markets determine the availability of credit for vast numbers of people around the globe, from managers trying to fund their businesses to families and students seeking mortgages and personal loans. -- AFP