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1 Feb, 2019 09:36

Till debt do us part: Russia and China continue dumping US Treasuries

Till debt do us part: Russia and China continue dumping US Treasuries

The latest US Treasury Department data shows that foreign investors slashed their holdings of American debt in November by $105 billion, from a year earlier, to $6.2 trillion.

China, the largest foreign holder of US debt, slashed its holdings for a sixth straight month in November. Beijing had $1.12 trillion in US Treasuries, down from $1.138 trillion in October. The decline brought China’s Treasury holdings to the lowest level since May 2017, the data showed.

Also on rt.com Russia shifts $100bn of its reserves into yuan, yen & euro in a great dollar dump

The two largest foreign creditors of the US — China and Japan — have both been unloading US Treasury securities. China’s holdings fell by $55 billion from a year earlier, Japan’s by $47 billion to $1.04 trillion. Tokyo has now reduced its stash by 16 percent since the peak of $1.24 trillion at the end of 2014.

Russia, which is no longer a leading creditor of the United States after an unprecedented dumping of the US Treasury bonds in April and May, has slashed its stockpile by $1.815 billion in November to $12.814 billion.

Also on rt.com Fed chair is ‘very worried’ about ballooning debt US will inevitably face

Since last year, Russia has slashed around 85 percent of its US Treasury holdings, from $96.9 billion in January 2018 to $12.8 billion in November.

READ MORE: China’s yuan to challenge greenback as world’s main currency – Bank of England governor

Over the past 12 months, the US gross national debt has ballooned by $1.5 trillion to $22 trillion as of January 30, according to the Treasury.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section

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