Russia Has Sold Half Of Its US Treasury Bonds
Russia has carried out a major selloff of US Treasury bonds, dumping about $47bn-worth of papers, statisticsreleased by the US Treasury Department on Friday reveal.
Russia sold $47.4 billion out of the $96.1 billion the country had in US treasury bonds back in March. In April, Russia had only $48.7bn in US assets, occupying 22nd place on the list of “major foreign holders of Treasury securities.”
The selloff of US bonds is linked to the US-Russian conflict and multiple US sanctions imposed on Moscow according to Russian media reports.
RT reports: China, which holds the most US Treasury bonds, also sold off some seven billion-worth of its American assets, from March to April, and now has $1.18 trillion invested in securities. Japan, which is positioned second on the list, in the same timeframe sold off some $12 billion, leaving just over a trillion dollars in US coffers. Ireland, which had $300.4 billion in April also managed to ditch over $17 billion in US assets.
A treasury bond is a fixed-interest government debt security with a maturity of more than 10 years. Treasury bonds make interest payments two times a year.
The mass selloff of US bonds by Russian follows numerous rounds of sanctions imposed by Washington against Moscow. The punitive measures targeted some of the most important sectors of the Russian economy, by limiting American financing available to Russian banks and business sectors across all major sectors.
