Press Releases

Report on U.S. Holdings of Foreign Securities at End-Year 2003

(Archived Content)

JS-2350

The findings from an annual survey of U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2003 are released today and posted on the U.S. Treasury web site at ( www.treas.gov/tic/fpis.html).

The survey was undertaken jointly by the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The previous survey was for year-end 2001, and some revisions of that survey are reported in this release. Future surveys are scheduled to be carried out annually and the next report will present results from the survey for year-end 2004.

A complementary survey measuring foreign holdings of U.S. securities is also carried out annually. Data from the most recent such survey, which reports on securities held on June 30, 2004, are currently being processed. Preliminary results are expected to be reported by April 30, 2005.

Overall Results

The survey measured U.S. holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2003 of approximately $3,152 billion, with $2,079 billion held in foreign equities, $874 billion in foreign long-term debt securities (original term-to-maturity in excess of one year), and $199 billion in foreign short-term debt securities. The previous survey, conducted as of year-end 2001, measured U.S. holdings of approximately $2,317 billion, with $1,613 billion held in foreign equities, $557 billion in foreign long-term debt securities (revised from $502 billion), and $147 billion in foreign short-term debt securities (see Table 1).

The surveys are part of an internationally coordinated effort under the auspices of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to improve the measurement of portfolio asset holdings.

Table 1. U.S. holdings of foreign securities, by type of security, as of survey dates
(Billions of dollars, except as noted)

Type of Security

Dec. 31, 2001

Dec. 31, 2003

 

 

 

Long-term Securities

2,170

2,954

equity

1,613

2,079

long-term debt

557

874

Short-term debt securities

147

199

 

 

 

Total

2,317

3,152

 

U.S. Portfolio Investment by Country

Table 2. U.S. holdings of foreign securities, by country and type of security, for the countries attracting the most U.S. investment, as of December 31, 2003
(Billions of dollars)

 

 

 

 

 

Debt securities:

 

 

Total

Equities

 

Long-term

 

Short-term

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

United Kingdom

663

421

 

143

 

99

2

Japan

307

255

 

37

 

14

3

Canada

301

149

 

139

 

12

4

Germany

189

103

 

71

 

15

5

France

185

131

 

43

 

11

6

Netherlands

182

116

 

58

 

8

7

Cayman Islands

125

45

 

76

 

4

8

Switzerland

120

118

 

1

 

1

9

Bermuda

116

108

 

9

 

0

10

Australia

91

56

 

29

 

5

11

Italy

67

39

 

25

 

3

12

Mexico

56

29

 

28

 

0

13

South Korea

53

49

 

4

 

0

14

Spain

52

44

 

6

 

1

15

Brazil

50

32

 

18

 

0

16

Sweden

45

28

 

13

 

5

17

Finland

41

35

 

6

 

0

18

Hong Kong , S.A.R.

38

36

 

1

 

0

19

Ireland

33

22

 

8

 

3

20

Israel

29

16

 

12

 

0

21

Taiwan

27

27

 

0

 

0

22

Singapore

25

22

 

3

 

0

23

Netherlands Antilles

25

23

 

1

 

0

24

Luxembourg

23

6

 

15

 

2

25

Denmark

22

10

 

10

 

2

 

Rest of world

287

159

 

116

 

12

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total value of investment

3,152

2,079

 

874

 

199

The stock of foreign securities for December 31, 2003 reported in this survey does not, for a number or reasons, correspond to the stock of foreign securities on December 31, 2001 plus cumulative flows reported in Treasury's transactions reporting system. An analysis of the relation between the stock and flow data is available in Table 5 and the associated text of the final report on U.S. holdings of foreign securities at end-year 2003.

 

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