Foreign Holdings of U.S. Treasuries Grow for a Third Year
A visitor takes a photo of the statue of Albert Gallatin, former U.S. Treasury secretary, the outside the Treasury building in Washington, D.C.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The pile of U.S. Treasuries held outside the country grew in 2019 to nearly $6.7 trillion from $6.3 trillion at the end of the previous year, as the government’s borrowing picked up to fresh record levels.
Total foreign ownership of U.S. government notes, bills and bonds rose for the third consecutive year, despite a second straight annual decline in China’s holdings, according to a Treasury Department report released Tuesday. The 2019 increase included a $44 billion decline in December after a $39.3 billion decline a month earlier.