View original document

The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.

3/19/2020

Preliminary Report on Foreign Holdings of U.S. Securities at End-June 2018 | U.S. Department of the Treasury

Preliminary Report on Foreign Holdings of U.S. Securities at EndJune 2018
February 28, 2019

Washington – Preliminary data from the June 2018 benchmark survey of foreign portfolio
holdings of U.S. securities were released today on the Treasury website. Final survey results,
which will include additional detail as well as possible revisions to the preliminary data, will be
reported on April 30, 2019. The survey was undertaken jointly by Treasury, the Federal Reserve
Bank of New York, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The next annual
survey will cover holdings at the end of June 2019; preliminary data are expected to be released
by February 28, 2020.
Complementary surveys measuring U.S. holdings of foreign securities are also carried out
annually. Data from the most recent survey, reporting on securities held at year-end 2018, are
currently being processed. Preliminary results are expected to be reported by August 30, 2019.
Overall Preliminary Results
The survey measured the value of foreign holdings of U.S. securities as of June 30, 2018, to be
$19,434 billion, with $8,156 billion held in U.S. equities, $10,290 billion held in U.S. long-term
debt securities [1] (of which $1,312 billion are holdings of asset-backed securities (ABS) [2] and
$8,978 billion are holdings of non-ABS securities), and $987 billion held in U.S. short-term debt
securities. The previous survey, conducted as of June 30, 2017, measured the value of total
foreign holdings of U.S. securities at $18,412 billion, with holdings of $7,189 billion in U.S.
equities, $10,292 billion in U.S. long-term debt securities, and $930 billion in U.S. short-term
debt securities (see Table A).

[1]. Long-term debt securities have an original term-to-maturity of over one year.
[2]. Asset-backed securities are backed by pools of assets, such as pools of residential home
mortgages or credit card receivables, which give the security owners claims against the cash
flows generated by the underlying assets. Unlike most other debt securities, these securities

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm618

1/3

3/19/2020

Preliminary Report on Foreign Holdings of U.S. Securities at End-June 2018 | U.S. Department of the Treasury

generally repay both principal and interest on a regular basis, reducing the principal
outstanding with each payment cycle.

Table A. Foreign holdings of U.S. securities, by type of security, as of recent survey dates
(Billions of dollars)
Type of security
Long-term securities

June 30, 2017

June 30, 2018

17,481

Equities

18,447
7,189

8,156

Long-term debt

10,292

10,290

Asset-backed

1,262

1,312

Other

9,030

8,978

Short-term debt securities
Total
Of which: Official

930

987

18,412

19,434

5,575

5,796

Table B. Foreign holdings of U.S. securities, by country and type of security,
for the major investing countries into the U.S., as of June 30, 2018
(Billions of dollars)
Total

Equities

Long-term debt

Short

ABS

Other

-term

1 Japan

2,044

544

265

1,171

65

2 Cayman Islands

1,763

1,040

129

479

115

3 China, mainland [i]

1,607

217

180

1,206

5

4 United Kingdom

1,606

926

28

605

48

5 Luxembourg

1,496

618

77

697

104

6 Canada

1,212

930

32

231

19

7 Ireland

1,153

394

83

542

135

8 Switzerland

813

452

18

313

30

9 Belgium

739

54

11

643

31

10 Taiwan

577

65

251

258

2

11 Germany

457

240

22

188

7

12 Netherlands

414

282

14

109

9

13 Norway

370

277

*

92

1

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm618

2/3

3/19/2020

Preliminary Report on Foreign Holdings of U.S. Securities at End-June 2018 | U.S. Department of the Treasury

14 Hong Kong

364

113

12

198

42

15 Singapore

353

180

6

156

10

16 France

329

167

9

135

18

17 Bermuda

317

102

49

144

21

18 Korea, South

316

125

35

139

17

19 Brazil

310

6

*

297

8

20 Australia

304

223

7

62

10

21 Kuwait

270

185

5

55

24

22 Saudi Arabia

233

57

4

117

54

23 Sweden

216

164

1

52

*

24 British Virgin Islands

176

115

3

46

13

25 United Arab Emirates

156

89

1

56

10

1,838

591

73

987

188

19,434

8,156

1,312

8,978

987

5,796

1,042

560

3,826

368

Rest of world
Total
of which: Foreign official
institutions

* Less than $500 million but more than zero.
[i]. Excludes Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, which are reported separately.
Preliminary Report on Foreign Holdings of U.S. Securities at End-June 2018

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm618

3/3