Four charts tracking the fiscal trajectory of the United States
See also: Fed Rates & Money Supply · US Treasury Yield Curve · S&P 500 International Exposure
The country column records where securities are held, not who owns them
The ranking above is the standard one, and it is routinely read as a list of owners. It is not. Treasury records the country of the custodian: a Gulf fund holding through a London bank counts as Britain, and an American manager's Cayman feeder counts as the Cayman Islands.
That distinction used to be a footnote. It is now $3.55 trillion of $9.27 trillion, or 38%, up from 12.6% in 2000. For more than a third of foreign-held US government debt, the published holder is a nominee.
Custodial centres are a named group, because nothing in the data marks one. The alternative is pretending the distinction does not exist. See Where the Leverage Is for the rest of this series.
Sources: CBO Budget and Economic Outlook, IMF World Economic Outlook, Federal Reserve Z.1 Financial Accounts. CBO projections shown as dashed lines. IMF WEO uses general government (includes state/local); all other charts use federal government. Charts updated automatically via weekly cron.