At the August meeting of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the federal funds rate was, once again, held firm at 5.25%. Maintaining the rate at its current level for so long has brought criticism in the light of the recent subprime meltdown. The Fed responded to the crisis by temporarily lowering its discount rate (the rate at which it lends funds to commercial banks) from 6.25% to 5.75%, in order to “provide depositories with greater assurance about the cost and availability of funding”.