U.S. Department of the Treasury

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today released Treasury International Capital (TIC) data for March 2013.  The next release, which will report on data for April 2013, is scheduled for June 14, 2013.

 

The sum total in March of all net foreign acquisitions of long-term securities, short-term U.S. securities, and banking flows was a monthly net TIC inflow of $2.1 billion.  Of this, net foreign private inflows were negative $34.8 billion, and net foreign official inflows were $36.9 billion.

 

Foreign residents increased their holdings of long-term U.S. securities in March – net purchases were $15.3 billion.  Net purchases by private foreign investors were $9.7 billion, and net purchases by foreign official institutions were $5.6 billion.

 

At the same time, U.S. residents increased their holdings of long-term foreign securities, with net purchases of $28.8 billion.

 

Taking into account transactions in both foreign and U.S. securities, the net foreign purchases of long-term securities were negative $13.5 billion.  After including adjustments, such as estimates of unrecorded principal payments to foreigners on U.S. asset-backed securities, the overall net foreign acquisition of long-term securities is estimated to have been negative $31.9 billion in March.

 

Foreign residents increased their holdings of U.S. Treasury bills by $34.2 billion.  Foreign resident holdings of all dollar-denominated short-term U.S. securities and other custody liabilities increased by $35.6 billion.

 

 

Complete data are available on the Treasury website at:

 

The monthly data on holdings of long-term securities, as well as the monthly table on Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities, reflect foreign holdings of U.S. securities collected primarily on the basis of custodial data.  These data help provide a window into foreign ownership of U.S. securities, but they cannot attribute holdings of U.S. securities with complete accuracy.  For example, if a U.S. Treasury security purchased by a foreign resident is held in a custodial account in a third country, the true ownership of the security will not be reflected in the data.  The custodial data will also not properly attribute U.S. Treasury securities managed by foreign private portfolio managers who invest on behalf of residents of other countries.  In addition, foreign countries may hold dollars and other U.S. assets that are not captured in the TIC data.  For these reasons, it is difficult to draw precise conclusions from TIC data about changes in the foreign holdings of U.S. financial assets by individual countries.