Washington  - The US government on Tuesday launched a new programme designed to unfreeze credit markets by taking a direct role in lending for small businesses, cars, student tuition, credit cards and other core sectors of the struggling US economy.

The US Treasury and Federal Reserve said they would begin lending up to 200 billion dollars by March 25 to help restart securitization markets, a critical component of the US economy that has virtually come to a halt since the financial crisis exploded in September.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, in testimony before Congress, said he believed the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) would have "immediate benefits" for the kinds of securitized loans that many US businesses rely on for their daily operations.

The new initiative comprises one half of President Barack Obama's 2-trillion-dollar effort to end the US financial crisis that has led the wider economy into a deep recession.

The Obama administration has also said it will create a 1- trillion-dollar public-private partnership to inject cash into key financial institutions in danger of bankruptcy. (dpa)