According to data released by the US Department of the Treasury on October 16, China’s holdings of US Treasury bonds in August dropped to $590.7 billion, a decrease of $27.3 billion compared to July, marking the third consecutive monthly decline.
The holding amount in August decreased by approximately 4.4% from July’s $618.0 billion, and by about 15.6% from the same period last year when it stood at $699.7 billion. China currently ranks as the third-largest foreign holder of US debt, following Japan and the United Kingdom.
During the same month, the total amount of foreign holdings of US Treasury bonds increased from $9.2484 trillion in July to $9.3317 trillion in August, adding $83.3 billion. After consecutive declines in June and July, foreign holdings rebounded in August but remained below the record high of $9.4873 trillion set in February of this year. Compared to the same period last year, the total amount increased by less than 1%.
Japan, the largest foreign holder, saw its holdings in August decrease to $1.0683 trillion, a decrease of about 3.2% from July’s $1.1039 trillion. The United Kingdom’s holdings increased from $998.3 billion to $1.0095 trillion, a growth of around 1.1%.
The data also shows that foreign official institutions’ holdings of US debt decreased from $3.7731 trillion in July to $3.7556 trillion. The portion held by non-official entities increased from $5.4753 trillion to $5.5761 trillion.
The Treasury noted in the data table that these figures primarily come from custodial institutions and securities brokers within the United States. US Treasury bonds held in overseas custodial accounts may not be attributed to the actual home country of the holder, therefore the data may not necessarily accurately reflect the actual amount of US debt held by each country.
According to Treasury data, China held $65.93 billion in US Treasury bonds in May, which decreased to $63.34 billion in June, and stood at $61.80 billion in July.
A report in the South China Morning Post in September stated that according to data from Wind Information, a Chinese financial data service provider, China’s holdings in July were the lowest since August 2008, when they amounted to $57.37 billion.