The Bank of Japan and four other central banks Thursday agreed to a $180 billion swap deal with the U.S. Federal Reserve to pump dollars into short-term money markets and ease the global credit crunch.

The BOJ agreed to a dollar swap of up to $60 billion with the Fed. This will be the first time the BOJ has pumped dollars into the domestic market.

The BOJ plans to start supplying dollars by the end of the month through open market operations. The deal will stay in effect through Jan. 30.