Taiwan was the US’ seventh-largest foreign creditor in August, holding US$150.3 billion of US Treasury bonds, according to a report released by the US Department of the Treasury on Tuesday.
Taiwan’s net holdings fell by US$4 billion from the previous month, the latest Treasury International Capital report said.
China remained the biggest foreign holder of US debt, but its holdings also fell from the previous month by US$36.5 billion to US$1.137 trillion.
In contrast, Japan increased its holdings of US Treasury bills to US$936.6 billion in August, up from US$914.8 billion in July, to remain the second-largest holder of US debt.
The third-ranked UK expanded its net holdings of US bonds by 12.4 percent in August to US$397.2 billion, according to the report.
Overall, foreign buyers of US Treasury debt stepped up their purchases in August after two months of declines. Foreign holdings increased after lawmakers in Washington ended a fight over raising the US government’s borrowing limit.
Total holdings rose 2 percent to US$4.57 trillion, following the first decreases since April 2009, the report said.
The US Congress and the administration of US President Barack Obama reached a deal on Aug. 2 to increase the nation’s borrowing limit by more than US$2 trillion.
Days after that deal was reached, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the credit rating on long-term US debt one notch from “AAA” to “AA+.”
The 2 percent increase in overall holdings came from a big 6.5 percent rise in the holdings of private investors. Holdings by foreign governments were up a much smaller 0.2 percent in August. Foreign holdings, primarily by central banks, represent 70 percent of total foreign ownership of US Treasury securities.
Net purchases of long-term securities, a category that includes not only US government debt, but also bonds issued by US companies, increased by US$57.9 billion in August, the biggest monthly gain since a rise of US$61.3 billion in December last year.
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