![handle is hein.tera/crser0106 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS22331
November 23, 2005
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Foreign Holdings of Federal Debt
Justin Murray
Information Research Specialist
Knowledge Services Group
Marc Labonte
Specialist in Macroeconomics
Government and Finance Division
Summary
This report presents current data on estimated ownership of United States Treasury
securities and major holders of federal debt by country. Federal debt represents the
accumulated balance of borrowing by the federal government. To finance federal
borrowing, United States Treasury securities are sold to investors. Treasury securities
may be purchased directly from the Treasury on the secondary market in the United
States or overseas by the individual private investors, financial institutions, and foreign,
state, or local governments. Foreign investment in federal debt has grown in recent
years, prompting questions on the location of the foreign holders and how much debt
they hold.
Federal debt represents, in large measure, the accumulated balance of federal
borrowing of the United States government. The portion of gross federal debt held by the
public consists primarily of investment in U.S. Treasury securities. Investors in the
United States and abroad include official institutions such as the United States Federal
Reserve, financial institutions such as private banks, and private individual investors.
Table 1 below provides data available as of November 2005 on estimated ownership of
U.S. Treasury securities by type of investment and the percentage of that investment
attributable to foreign investors.
As the table notes, during the past four years, foreign holdings of the public debt
have increased more than the total privately held debt has increased. Foreign holdings of
debt increased by $856.5 billion to nearly $1.9 trillion from December 2000 to December
2004. During the same period, total privately held debt increased by $786 billion to $3.7
billion.'
Congressional Research Service Ae The Library of Congress
Debt held by the public figures are available on the Bureau of Public Debt website, The Debt
to the Penny and Who Holds It, at [http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpdodt.htm].](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.tera/crser0106&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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