(FRANKFURT) - The European Central Bank pumped 50 billion dollars (37 billion euros) into money markets on Tuesday and said it would double to 50 billion euros the amount of the single European currency it would lend for six months as it tried to ease a tightening credit crunch.

In a separate statement, the ECB said it would also lend another 20 billion dollars to banks for almost three months in an operation that generated demand for more than four times that amount.

On a day when currency injection announcements followed each other at a breakneck pace, the ECB, US Federal Reserve and other central banks appeared determined to reassure stressed financial markets that money was no object.

The ECB also released a schedule of dollar loans it intends to make to eurozone commercial banks between now and the end of December, when banks seek to bolster their reserves as they close out their books for the year.

With the amounts climbing steadily by tens of billions of dollars and euros, it was clear that central bankers were desperately anxious to calm markets where tensions were reaching new heights.

For its overnight loans of 50 billion dollars, the ECB reported that banks had asked for more than double that amount -- 109 billion dollars -- and paid a whopping 6.75 percent for the funds available.

The 20 billion dollars offered for 85 days later in the day saw banks ask for more than 88.65 billion dollars, the ECB said.

The interbank 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 personal loans.

Rates paid for the central bank money are way above normal on the interbank markets where the commercial banks used to borrow or lend short-term funds and central banks have now become the main source of funds for them.

Interbank lending has come to a virtual halt as the ECB and other central banks have injected huge amounts of cash to ease the turmoil sparked by the collapse of the US subprime home loan market last year which has savaged the banks' balance sheets.

The RGE Monitor published on Tuesday by New York University economics professor Nouriel Roubini noted that at present the "only source of liquidity are central banks.

"Despite record liquidity injections into the banking system, banks hoard the cash instead of making new loans for fear they won't be paid back," he said.

Commercial banks appear to be using some of the funds to buy government treasury bills because they are considered one of the safest investments in these unsettled times.

The ECB also said Tuesday that it had provided 250 billion euros to commercial banks in a separate, regular one-week offer that was carried out at an average rate of 4.99 percent amid more modest demand.

In yet another operation, this time taking out excess euro funds injected in earlier accords, was scaled back to 197 billion euros after the ECB initially estimated that the surplus in question amounted to more than 230 billion euros.

However, commercial banks were only willing to return a little more than 147 billion euros, yet another sign they prefer to hang on to cash in excess of their immediate euro requirements.

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