CEI Capital Management, the for-profit arm of economic development group Coastal Enterprise Inc., has been allocated $55 million in federal New Markets tax credits.

The U.S. Treasury announced the allocation Monday in a news release.

Portland-based CEI Capital Management is one of dozens of intermediary agencies that administer the tax credit program for the federal government. The firm is expected to use the money for economic development projects that create opportunity in rural, low-income communities across the nation.

The federal new markets tax credit program is separate from the Maine New Markets Capital Investment program, which was the subject of a Press Herald investigation that raised questions about the use of one-day loans to inflate the value of investments in eligible businesses as a way to trigger more state tax credits. A bill that would eliminate the use of one-day loans is before lawmakers now.

Since 2004, CEI Capital Management has placed nearly $900 million in federal tax credits to 88 projects across the country. Last year, it used its federal tax credits for a renovation of the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland and an expansion of Molnlycke Healthcare in Brunswick.

Altogether the U.S. Department of Treasury made allocations to 76 community development entities around the country, totaling about $3.5 billion of New Markets tax credit capacity out of a total 263 applications seeking $19.9 billion.