Treasury releases holdings data after Freedom of Information request:
- Saudi Arabia held $116.8B in by-far the largest oil exporter holding
- UAE at $62.5B
- Kuwait at $31.2B
- Oman at $15.9B
- Iraq at $13.4B
- Nigeria held $3.1B
- Bahrain held $1.2B
All the numbers are as of March.
Previously, the Treasury had grouped 'oil exporters' together.
To put the numbers in perspective, the Saudi holdings are about one-tenth of what Japan and China each hold.
None of it is a surprise, we already know that oil exporters held a combined $281B in Treasuries.
The full list through Feb is always shocking for how much dirty money is stashed in banking havens in the Caribbean, Ireland, Switzerland, Singapore, Belguim and Luxembourg.
The Treasury only discloses the location, not the ownership (which isn't even known to the Treasury). In theory, the Saudi Kingdom could hold its bonds at a bank in Belgium and they would be much larger than stated.
