US Federal Debt

choi

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Bureau of Public Debt, US Department of Treasury is in charge of debt of federal government.

Two questions:

How much of federal debt is held by American public?  Note federal debt includes treasuries and agency mortgage-backed securities."

What is the percentage of China's holding in total treasuries?

(1)
Ownership of Federal Debt. Government Accountability Office (GAO), US Congress, undated.
http://www.gao.gov/special.pubs/longterm/debt/ownership.html

(a) "Between 2000 and 2010, the share of publicly held debt held by domestic private investors held steady and international investors' share increased."

(b) Immediately below is a graphic with the heading "Estimated Ownership of Debt Held by the Public (Fiscal Years 2000 and 2010)," which shows

....................................................................End of Fiscal 2000 ..........End of Fiscal 2010

Domestic Private Investors ....................36.2% ...............................35.9%   
Federal Reserve .....................................15.1%.................................9%
State and Local Governments ..............13.1%.................................7.7%
International Investors ............................35.5%................................47.4%


(2)
(a) The Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It. Bureau of Public Debt, US Department of Treasury.
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np
("Current........Debt Held by the................Intragovernmental.................Total Public Debt
................................Public.....................................Holdings............................Outstanding
08/09/2011.....9,915,945,812,737.81......4,676,045,686,788.21..........14,591,991,499,526.02")

Immediately above the table is definitions of
(i) "Debt Held by the Public" ("all federal debt held by individuals, corporations, state or local governments, foreign governments, and other entities outside the United States Government")
and
(ii) "Intragovernmental Holdings" (within federal government)

(b) At the bottom of the (1) web page is a map with the heading "Countries with Largest Holdings of Treasury Securities (As of June 2010)."

(i) The figures in the map indicated "Mainland China and not Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan" with $1.1t; Taiwan %152b.
(ii) The map caption stated, "Data from Preliminary Report on Foreign Holdings of U.S. Securities at End-June 2010. Final survey results will be released in late April 2011." If the "final survey results were released in late April 2011," the preliminary data must be months earlier.

"Preliminary Report on Foreign Holdings of U.S. Securities at End-June 2010" in the above quotation is a tag. Click it and the table from US Department of Treasury disclosed:

"(Billions of dollars)
...
China (Mainland) ["Excludes Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan"]...1,611  
...
Taiwan....228"


Divide China's 1.611t by Treasury's total debt 14.6t and one gets 11.03%.


(3) The link provided by GAO under the map leads to "preliminary report” dated "2/28/2011."

US Department of Treasury did release the final report in April 2011:
"Report on Foreign Holdings of U.S. Securities at End - June 2010  4/29/2011"
http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/tg1153.aspx
which did not change the figures for China and Taiwan--1,611b and 228b, respectively.

These figures do not include "agency mortgage-backed securities," as the GAO report made abundantly clear.

(3) But I find a significant discrepancy in US Department of Treasury's various reports.

(a) On one hand, Treasury stated in 4/29/2011 final report for End-June 2010 that China (Mainland) had 1,611 and Taiwan 228.

On the other hand, Treasury (actually "Department of the Treasury/Federal Reserve Board")
stated in the July 18, 2011 "MAJOR FOREIGN HOLDERS OF TREASURY SECURITIES (in billions of dollars) ... AT END OF PERIOD":

"Country...................May 2011...................June 2010
China, Mainland......1159.8........................1112.1
...
Taiwan .....................153.4 .........................151.9"

(b) However, in the more elaborate reporting form, Treasury did repeat 1,611 for China Mainland and 228 for Taiwan, after giving caveats (in the previous two pages, 7 and 8; see below).

Department of the Treasury, Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Report on Foreign Portfolio Holdings of U.S. Securities as of June 30, 2010. April 2011.
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Documents/shla2010r.pdf
(Table 5 at page 9)

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