Foreign Official Holdings of U.S. Treasury Securities

## What this measures

The part of foreign-held U.S. Treasury securities owned by foreign official institutions (central banks, finance ministries and other government bodies) at the end of each month, in US$ billions. It is the "Of which: Foreign Official" line of Treasury's Major Foreign Holders table.

## Why it matters

Official holders are reserve managers. Their Treasury holdings track how much of the world's foreign-exchange reserves sit in dollars, and how much central banks sell when they defend their currencies.

## How to read it

Read it against the total of all foreign holdings: a falling official share means private foreign investors, not governments, are doing more of the buying.

## What it does not say

TIC records who holds the securities as reported by U.S. custodians and broker-dealers. Treasuries held in a custody account in another country are credited to that country, so financial centres (Belgium, Luxembourg, the Cayman Islands, the United Kingdom, Switzerland) hold much that belongs to investors elsewhere. Annual benchmark surveys re-base the series, which can move a country's level in a single month.

## Source

U.S. Department of the Treasury and Federal Reserve Board, Treasury International Capital (TIC) system: "Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities" (ticdata.treasury.gov, slt_table5.txt for the latest 13 months, mfhhis01.txt for history back to March 2000). U.S. Government work, public domain. Palanor re-reads both files on every run, because Treasury revises past years when it benchmarks the series.