“Aggressive efforts must be taken across the public and private sectors to limit the losses to jobs and incomes and to promote a swift recovery once the disruptions abate,” the central bank said in a Monday morning statement, an uncharacteristically blunt warning from a usually staid institution.

The central bank, which restarted its giant bond-buying program eight days ago, said it would expand well beyond the “at least” $700 billion in Treasury and $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities it initially committed to buying. Instead, officials will buy bonds “in the amounts needed to support smooth market functioning” — including buying government-backed debt tied to commercial real estate.

The program, which the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee supported unanimously, is a nod to the fact that crucial markets at the center of the financial system have struggled to function. In laying out such an explicitly unlimited package, and in creating such expansive emergency lending programs, the central bank is going far beyond its playbook from the 2008 financial crisis.

As the virus has emptied out shops, airplanes and hotels, both large and small businesses have felt the economic pain. Many will need financial support to survive, whether in the form of loans or new debt issuance. With companies on shaky ground and cash-hungry investors unwilling to snap up outstanding corporate debt, interest rates have jumped, making it too expensive for companies to raise money by selling new bonds.

The Fed’s plan to bolster the corporate bond market will work through two new programs established using the Fed’s emergency lending powers. They should help market functioning while allowing companies to stay afloat.

One of them, the Primary Market Corporate Credit Facility, is open to investment-grade companies and will provide bridge financing of four years, according to the Fed’s release. The Fed will create a special-purpose vehicle that will both buy bonds and extend loans.

The program defers interest payments on that bridge financing “for six months, extendable at the discretion of the Board of Governors” to get companies through the worst of the coronavirus period. But the support comes with restrictions — companies taking that option are not allowed to buy back shares or pay out dividends, both of which eat into a firm’s cash position.