Fighting to ease a dangerous credit crisis, the Federal Reserve has provided a total of $260 billion in short-term loans to squeezed banks since December to help them overcome credit problems.

The central bank on Tuesday announced the results of its most recent auction – the eighth since the program started in December – where commercial banks bid to get a slice of $50 billion in short-term loans.

It’s part of an ongoing effort by the central bank to provide relief to a spreading credit crunch that has unnerved financial markets. The situation threatens to push the country into a deep recession.

In the most recent auction, commercial banks paid an interest rate of 2.615 percent, the lowest rate for any such auctions so far.