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Russia Dropped at Least One Third of US Treasury Bonds in May - US Treasury

The US Treasury Department released a list on Tuesday of the 33 major holders of US Treasury securities. Russia was no longer listed among them.
Sputnik

In May, Russia's holdings of US bonds fell below the $30 billion threshold, according to the US Treasury Department's report. The sale comes after similar sales of US Treasury bonds by Moscow in previous months.

In April, Russia sold roughly half of the US Treasury bonds it owned, bringing the total to $48 billion. This put Russia on the 22nd place of the list of main US Treasury bondholders.

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In March, Russia also sold Treasury bonds in the amount of $1.6 billion.

The biggest change occurred in February, when Russia reduced its US Treasury bond portfolio by a massive $9.3 billion.

By contrast, in 2017 Russia increased its US Treasury bond holdings from almost $70 billion in March to more than $92 billion in December of that year.

China remains the main holder of US Treasury bonds and its holdings amount to more than $1.18 trillion. Japan is second, owning more than $1.04 trillion. Chile holds the last place on the list of main holders of US Treasury bonds with $30.2 billion, according to the data revealed on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, foreign purchases of US Treasury securities plus banking flows yielded a $69.9 billion net inflow of financial capital into the United States in May, the US Department of the Treasury announced in a monthly report.

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"Net foreign private inflows were $58.8 billion, and net foreign official [government] inflows were $11.1 billion," a press release summarizing the report stated on Tuesday.

The report includes foreign purchases and sales of long-term and short-term US Treasury securities, as well as changes in US bank deposits held by foreigners, the release said.

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