Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabia raised its holdings of the US Treasuries by 43.4% year-on-year or $44.6 billion in December 2017.
The kingdom’s holdings of the US’ bonds and treasury bills (T-bills) amounted to $147.4 billion during the last month of 2017, compared to SAR 102.8 billion in the same period a year earlier, according to US Department of the Treasury’s (USDT) data.
On a monthly basis, Saudi holdings of the US debt instruments inched down 0.1% in December compared to a month before.
China is the largest foreign holder of US government debt with $1.185 trillion, while Saudi Arabia came first among the GCC peers and the oil-rich nation ranked 11th internationally.
The UAE came the second among the GCC countries, holding $57 billion of the US Treasuries during December, compared to $58.2 billion the previous month, while Kuwait remained its holdings stable at $36.8 billion in December, USDT said.
On the other hand, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar reduced their Treasury holdings in December 2017 to $11.70 billion, $546 million, and $301 million, respectively.
