Share of foreign-held Treasuries owned by central banks and governments

Reinvestment

Share of foreign-held Treasuries owned by central banks and governments. 1 series: Foreign official. Latest, Aug 2026: Foreign official 40.25%.

Official holders are foreign central banks, finance ministries and other government institutions; the rest are private investors. Holdings in a private custodian's name can hide official owners, so this is a lower bound on the official share.

See also: Laurence Wilse-Samson, "Global Finance: A Money View", chapter 3, The International Dimension

Classroom exerciseFind the month the official share peaked and its latest value. Who replaced central banks as foreign buyers of Treasuries? Why does it matter whether foreign demand comes from price-insensitive official holders or price-sensitive private ones? Teach page

Percent of foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury securitiesU.S. Treasury, TIC major foreign holders of Treasury securities, foreign official holdings over the grand total; Balance of Power calculations.Data through Aug 2026✓ Checked against Treasury TIC table 5 (October 2026 release), August 2026, foreign official 3,755.6 of 9,331.7 billion dollars (40.25 percent)

Cite asBalance of Power, "Share of foreign-held Treasuries owned by central banks and governments", data through Aug 2026. Source: U.S. Treasury, TIC major foreign holders of Treasury securities, foreign official holdings over the grand total; Balance of Power calculations.

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Latest values
DateForeign official
Jan 202642.43
Feb 202642.26
Mar 202641.73
Apr 202641.76
May 202641.05
Jun 202640.63
Jul 202640.80
Aug 202640.25
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With: The largest foreign holders of U.S. Treasury securities

Provenance
Inputs
ColumnSourceSeries keyStatusData through
official_vticMFH/Foreign OfficialliveAug 2026
total_vticMFH/Grand TotalliveAug 2026