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December 29, 2006
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Report On U.S. Holdings of Foreign Securities At End-Year 2005

The findings from an annual survey of U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2005 are released today and posted on the U.S. Treasury web site (http://www.treas.gov/tic/fpis.shtml#usclaims).

The survey was undertaken jointly by the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.  Future surveys are scheduled to be carried out annually.  The next report will present results from the survey for year-end 2006. 

A complementary survey measuring foreign portfolio holdings of U.S. securities is also carried out annually.  Preliminary results from the most recent such survey, covering securities held as of June 30, 2006, are expected to be reported by March 30, 2007.

Overall Results

The survey measured the value of U.S. holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2005 of approximately $4,609 billion, with $3,318 billion held in foreign equities, $1,028 billion in foreign long-term debt securities (original term-to-maturity in excess of one year), and $263 billion in foreign short-term debt securities.  The previous survey measured U.S. holdings at year-end 2004 of approximately $3,787 billion, with $2,560 billion held in foreign equities, $993 billion in foreign long-term debt securities, and $233 billion in foreign short-term debt securities (see Table 1).

U.S. holdings by country at the end of 2005 were by far the largest for the United Kingdom ($815 billion), followed by Japan ($531 billion) and Canada ($419 billion) (see Table 2).

The surveys are part of an internationally-coordinated effort under the auspices of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to improve the measurement of portfolio asset holdings.

Table 1.  Value of U.S. holdings of foreign securities, by type of security, at end-2004 and end-2005 [1]

Type of Security	Dec. 31, 2004	Dec. 31, 2005
Long-term Securities	3,553	4,346
equity	2,560	3,318
long-term debt	993	1,028
Short-term debt securities	233	263
Total	3,787	4,609

(Billions of dollars, except as noted)

					Debt securities:
		Total	Equities		Long-term		Short-term
1	United Kingdom	815	538		185		92
2	Japan	531	493		35		2
3	Canada	419	248		158		14
4	France	274	205		48		21
5	Cayman Islands	249	103		118		28
6	Germany	217	158		49		10
7	Switzerland	196	192		2		2
8	Netherlands	192	133		52		7
9	Bermuda	187	174		11		2
10	Australia	128	71		49		9
11	South Korea	119	110		8		0
12	Brazil	90	69		22		0
13	Mexico	86	58		28		0
14	Italy	79	64		12		3
15	Ireland	75	33		17		25
16	Sweden	75	41		16		18
17	Spain	70	64		6		1
18	Taiwan	58	57		1		*
19	Finland	49	44		4		0
20	Netherlands Antilles	47	45		2		*
21	Luxembourg	46	11		29		6
22	Hong Kong, SAR	46	44		2		0
23	Israel	44	29		15		0
24	Singapore	36	29		7		0
25	Norway	36	22		9		5
	Rest of world	445	283		143		19
	Total value of investment	4,609	3,318		1,028		263

* Greater than zero and less than $500 million. Note: items may not add to total due to rounding.

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REPORTS

• (PDF) Report on U.S. Portfolio Holdings of Foreign Securities at End-Year 2005