The U.S. Treasury Department revealed for the first time ever how much debt Saudi Arabia is holding, breaking an unusual and longstanding policy of secrecy regarding how much the Kingdom holds.
Saudi Arabia held $116.8 billion in U.S. debt at the end of March. That is down 6% from its highest level in January 2016.
Bloomberg first reported the total after filing for a Freedom-of-Information Act request submitted by the news agency. The tally is “about 20 percent of the country’s $587 billion of foreign reserves, and roughly 10 percent of the stockpiles of China and Japan.”
The kingdom held $116.8 billion of Treasuries at the end of March, down 6 percent from a record $123.6 billion in January.
“While the tally solves one puzzle, it introduces another: Central banks typically keep about two-thirds of reserves in dollar-denominated assets, according to the International Monetary Fund,” Bloomberg writes. “And because Saudi Arabia’s riyal is pegged to the dollar and its main export — oil — is priced in the greenback, the kingdom should keep an even larger share of reserves in dollar-denominated securities like Treasuries, according to strategists.”
The amount held in debt is not the total amount that was threatened by foreign minister Adel Al-Jubeir to be pulled out by the Saudi Government if the bill H.R.3815, otherwise known as the “Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act” goes forward in the Senate. Saudi Arabia could pull out other investments in the U.S. that could be the target of a lawsuit if HR3815 goes forward.
The bill is reportedly being held up by the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin).
The GOP leader reportedly expressed his hesitation about the bill, saying, “I think we need to review it to make sure we’re not making mistakes with our allies – that we’re not catching people up in this that shouldn’t be caught up in this.”
