According to the “May International Capital Data” released by the U.S. Department of the Treasury on July 17 (Thursday), China reduced its holdings of U.S. Treasuries by $900 million in May, dropping from $757.2 billion in April to $756.3 billion in May, marking a third consecutive monthly decline and the lowest level since March 2009.
Since March, China’s holdings of U.S. Treasuries have continued to decrease, falling to the third position globally, following Japan and the United Kingdom.
In May, both Japan and the United Kingdom increased their holdings of U.S. Treasuries. Japan increased its holdings by $500 million, reaching $1.135 trillion, making it the largest holder of U.S. Treasuries. The United Kingdom ranked second, with holdings increasing by $1.7 billion to a total of $809.4 billion.
Canada was the country that increased its holdings of U.S. Treasuries the most in May, with an increase of $61.7 billion, bringing the total to $430 billion.
Despite China’s continuing sell-off of U.S. Treasuries, other countries are consistently increasing their holdings. By the end of May, foreign holdings of U.S. Treasuries increased by $32.4 billion, reaching a total value of $9.045 trillion, surpassing the $9 trillion mark for the third consecutive month. Compared to the same month last year, foreign holdings of U.S. Treasuries increased by 11.2%.
U.S. Department of the Treasury data shows that in May, foreign net purchases of U.S. Treasuries and total bank inflows amounted to $311.1 billion, with net inflows from foreign private investors reaching $333.2 billion, partially offset by net outflows of $22.1 billion from official foreign institutions.