Press Releases

Preliminary Report on Foreign Holdings of U.S. Securities at End-June 2020

WASHINGTON – Preliminary data from the June 2020 annual survey of foreign portfolio holdings of U.S. securities were released today on the Treasury website at http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Pages/shlreports.aspx. Final survey results, which will include additional detail as well as possible revisions to the preliminary data, will be reported on April 30, 2021. 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 2021; preliminary data are expected to be released by February 28, 2022.

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 2020, are currently being processed. Preliminary results are expected to be reported by August 31, 2021.

Overall Preliminary Results

The survey measured the value of foreign holdings of U.S. securities as of June 30, 2020, to be $21,990 billion, with $9,178 billion held in U.S. equities, $11,564 billion held in U.S. long-term debt securities [1] (of which $1,482 billion are holdings of asset-backed securities (ABS) [2] and $10,083 billion are holdings of non-ABS securities), and $1,248 billion held in U.S. short-term debt securities. The previous survey, conducted as of June 30, 2019, measured the value of total foreign holdings of U.S. securities at $20,534 billion, with holdings of $8,630 billion in U.S. equities, $10,991 billion in U.S. long-term debt securities, and $913 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 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

June 30, 2019

June 30, 2020

Long-term securities

19,622

 

20,742

 

  Equities

 

8,630

 

9,178

  Long-term debt

 

10,991

 

11,564

    Asset-backed

 

1,417

 

1,482

    Other

 

9,575

 

10,083

Short-term debt securities

913

 

1,248

 

Total

20,534

 

21,990

 

Of which: Official

6,112

 

6,309

 

 

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, 2020

   

Total

Equities

        Long-term debt

Short

       

ABS

Other

-term

1

Japan

2,554

667

334

1,482

71

2

United Kingdom

1,986

1,019

69

819

79

3

Cayman Islands

1,905

1,060

105

614

125

4

Luxembourg

1,800

732

60

867

140

5

China, mainland [i]

1,569

233

236

1,065

34

6

Canada

1,335

971

53

282

29

7

Ireland

1,188

518

52

418

200

8

Switzerland

862

504

13

310

35

9

Belgium

859

59

21

732

46

1

Taiwan

699

79

269

345

6

1

Norway

468

325

*

141

1

1

Hong Kong

457

128

16

286

27

1

Netherlands

425

264

16

143

3

1

Germany

420

210

17

182

12

1

Korea, South

414

187

37

183

8

1

France

403

192

6

180

25

1

Singapore

377

169

11

175

21

1

Bermuda

364

111

49

171

33

1

Australia

352

266

8

66

11

2

Kuwait

305

211

9

57

28

2

Saudi Arabia

279

133

4

106

36

2

Brazil

277

8

*

253

16

2

Sweden

238

194

*

43

1

2

India

189

6

*

152

31

2

British Virgin Islands

169

105

4

52

8

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rest of world

2,106

830

92

965

219

 

Total

22,000

9,178

1,482

10,092

1,248

 

of which: Foreign

6,309

1,245

678

3,969

416

 

*  Less than $500 million but more than zero.

[i].  Excludes Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, which are reported separately.