02/20/2015
Foreign Holders of U.S. Debt
From the Federal Reserve Board...December 2014 data
($billions of dollars)
China.....1244.3 (Dec. 2014)....1270.1 (Dec. 2013)
Japan....1230.9....1182.5
Belgium....335.4....256.8
Carib bkg ctrs*....333.2....294.2
OPEC**....285.9....238.3
Brazil....255.8....245.4
Switzerland....190.1....176.7
U.K. ....189.2....163.7
Taiwan....174.4....182.2
Hong Kong....172.6....158.8
Luxembourg....171.8....134.6
Ireland....138.6....125.5
Singapore....110.0....86.2
Russia....86.9....138.6
Mexico....84.8....65.1
India....83.0....68.5
T’bonds & Notes....3777.8....3656.2
Foreign total....$6,153.7 of total U.S. public debt securities, which as of Feb. 2015 was $13,038, or about 47% held by foreigners.
*Includes Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Netherlands Antilles and Panama
**Mostly OPEC, including Venezuela, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE
Eurozone holdings are primarily through Belgium and Luxembourg, though other positions are held directly through the respective central banks. It’s confusing. Actually, no one seems to know for sure who the mystery buyers are in Belgium, though I’m assuming the European Central Bank has something to do with it. Some have also thought China may be hiding some of its holdings through what is known as Euroclear in Belgium, as well as the U.K.
What also sticks out about the above is the decline in Russian holdings amid their sanctions infused financial crisis. Some of these could be reflected in the likes of Belgium and Luxembourg, too.
Finally, when you hear talk about a federal debt of over $18.1 trillion, that includes intragovernmental debt of approximately $5 trillion, which is comprised of the likes of the Social Security Trust Fund, as well as federal employee and military pension plans.
Source: treas.gov, others
Wall Street History will return in two weeks.
Brian Trumbore
