RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s holdings of US treasury bonds decreased by 1.76 percent, or $2 billion, month-on-month to reach $111.3 billion in May, the latest official data showed. 

This comes as the Kingdom’s holdings of the financial instruments stood at $113.3 billion during the month of April, according to the monthly report of the US Treasury. 

In May, Saudi Arabia’s investments in US treasury fixed-income securities were distributed among long-term bonds worth $99.4 billion, representing 89 percent of the total, the report showed. 

Meanwhile, the value of short-term bonds for the same month amounted to $11.9 billion, accounting for 11 percent.  

That said, the Kingdom maintained 18th place among the largest holders of US Treasuries in May.

UAE holdings 

The UAE’s holding of US treasury bonds also dropped by 1.7 percent, or 1.2 billion, month-on-month in May to reach $69 billion, the report noted. 

The country’s investments in US treasury fixed-income securities were distributed to $47.1 billion in long-term bonds in May, representing 68 percent of the total. 

Meanwhile, the value of short-term bonds for the same month amounted to $21.9 billion, accounting for 32 percent. 

Accordingly, the UAE fell to the 23rd place among the largest holders of US bonds in May, the report revealed. 

Overall performance 

Ssell-offs from China and Japan — as interest rates in the world’s largest economy continued to surge — led to foreign holdings of US treasuries falling in May.

The report showed that foreign holdings of US treasuries dropped to $7.52 trillion in May, down from $7.58 trillion in the previous month, slipping for the first time in four months. 

Despite this, treasuries owned by foreigners surged 1.6 percent compared to a year earlier. 

“What stands out is the big selling by Japan and China,” head of US rates strategy at TD Securities in New York Gennadiy Goldberg said, according to Reuters. 

“They drove the selling by foreign investors during the month, which overall made sense given the move higher in rates toward the second half of the month,” Goldberg added.