Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabia raised its holdings of US Treasury bonds by 29.3% year-on-year or $34.2 billion in February 2018.

The kingdom’s holdings of US government bonds reached $150.9 billion in the second month of 2018, up from $116.7 billion in the same month a year earlier, the US Department of the Treasury’s data released on Tuesday showed.

Month-on-month, Saudi holdings of the US debt instruments increased 5.1% or $7.3 billion to $150.9 billion in February 2018 versus $143.6 billion in the previous month.

At the international level, China is the top holder of US Treasuries with $1176.7 trillion, followed by Japan with $1059.5 trillion, while Saudi Arabia ranked 12th.

At the Arab level, Saudi Arabia came first, followed by the UAE and Kuwait with $57.5 billion and $36.3 billion, respectively.