Treasury releases breakdown of Saudi holdings of US debt

The Treasury Department has released a breakdown of Saudi Arabia’s holdings of U.S. debt, after keeping the figures secret for more than four decades.

The stockpile of the world’s biggest oil exporter stood at $116.8bn (€103.2bn) as of March, down almost 6% from a record in January, according to data the Treasury disclosed yesterday in response to a Freedom-of-Information Act request.

The tally ranks Saudi Arabia among the top dozen foreign nations in terms of holdings of US debt, and compares with China’s $1.3tn trove, and $1.1tn for Japan.