Revealed: Saudi Arabia owns $117 billion of U.S. debt

Source: fox2now.com --- Monday, May 16, 2016
NEW YORK – One of the biggest mysteries in global finance was just revealed: How much U.S. debt saudiarabia owns. saudiarabia stockpiled $116.8 billion of U.S. Treasuries as of March, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to CNNMoney on Monday. That makes saudiarabia one of the top dozen or so foreign holders of U.S. debt, though well behind the $1 trillion-plus owned by China and Japan each. Unlike with most other major owners of U.S. debt, the Treasury Department kept saudiarabia’s precise holdings secret since the 1970s. saudi’s holdings were lumped together with that of other oil exporting nations, including Venezuela and Iraq. The saudi figure was first reported by Bloomberg News based on a Freedom of Information Act request. The Treasury Department confirmed to CNNMoney that later on Monday it will provide new information on specific countries in its report on foreign ownership of U.S. debt. A Treasury official cited a recent review that was aimed at trying to provide more “comprehensive and transparent” data. It is possible that saudiarabia owns even more U.S. debt than what was revealed on Monday. That’s because saudiarabia’s central bank listed owning $587 billion of foreign reserves as of March. Typically, central banks park the majority of their foreign reserves in U.S. Treasuries. In other words, the numbers don’t really add up. One possibility: saudiarabia could be taking a page out of China’s playbook. ...