By: Mahmoud Gamal

Mubasher: The GCC countries’ holdings of the US Treasuries declined 1.3% to $254.4 billion in December 2017, compared to $257.65 billion a month earlier, according to US Department of the Treasury (USDT).

Treasury holdings of Saud Arabia, which ranked first among the GCC economies, dropped 1.9% to $147.4 billion in the last month of 2017 versus $149.03 billion in November, USDT’s data showed.

The UAE came the second among the GCC peers, holding $57 billion of the US’ Treasuries during December, compared to $58.2 billion the previous month, while Kuwait remained its holdings stable at $36.8  billion in December, USDT said.

On the other hand, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar reduced their Treasury holdings in December 2017 to $11.70 billion, $546 million, and $301 million, respectively.