U.S. Treasury doubles support for Fannie, Freddie

Published: 18 Feb 2009 18:04:36 PST

WASHINGTON, Feb 18 - The U.S. Treasury Department said on Wednesday it was doubling its financial support for housing finance enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to allow them to play a bigger role supporting housing as part of a fresh foreclosure mitigation plan.

The Treasury said it was increasing its preferred stock purchase agreements with the two government-controlled companies to $200 billion each from $100 billion.

It also said it was raising the limit on the size of the mortgage portfolios the two companies can hold by $50 billion to $900 billion each, along with a corresponding increase in their allowable debt outstanding. ,