Chinese Holdings of US Debt Up 11.51% in Past Year

A number of countries, including Brazil, Russia and Germany, have cut back on their holdings of US debt over the past year.

China is not one of those countries.

Over the past 12 months, China has seen their holdings of US debt grow by over 11.5%. As of October/2013, China reportedly owned $1.3045 trillion of US debt, putting them far ahead of Japan, who listed US debt holdings of $1.174 trillion.

Foreign holders accounted for $5.6535 trillion of US debt holdings as of October/2013. This makes China's number even more impressive, as this means that they accounted for 23.07% of all foreign ownership of US debt as of the end of October. Throw Japan into the mix, and the two countries accounted for nearly 44% of all foreign ownership of US debt.

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In October of 2012, China owned $1.1699 trillion of US debt. As of October/2013, this number had increased to $1.3045 trillion.

There was some thought that China was scaling back on their US debt purchases, but they have, in fact, substantially added to their holdings over the past year.

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The top five holders of US debt as of October/2013 were:

China, $1.3045 trillion
Japan, $1.1744 trillion
Caribbean Banking Centers, $290.7 billion
Brazil, $246.7 billion
Oil Exporters, $236.6 billion

Source: Biggest Foreign US Debt Holders

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