Global Analysis from the European Perspective. Preparing for the world of tomorrow




EU, not China or Japan, is the biggest US Treasury holder. And this is not a good sign.

Source: Nik Waller Productions/Shutterstock.com

US-based media have been reporting that Japan has become the biggest holder of the US treasuries, surpassing China last month. However, this is true only in regard to single countries. If we consider the European Union member states collectively, then they appear to be the biggest holder of the US treasuries. It has been so almost one year long. Unfortunately, the EU’s holdings are artificially overstated because of some financial havens and they are going in the opposite direction to the trend: up rather than down.

According to the latest data from TIC (Treasury International Capital System), the EU was in possession of $1242 billion of US Treasuries in November 2016, $9 billion more than one month earlier. The EU was the only one from three biggest holders that increased its amount of US treasuries in November, while China and Japan continued to lower their holdings.

biggest us treasury holders
The EU became the top US Treasury holder in February 2016, i.e. one year ago. China’s holdings were then $1252 billion, while in November 2016 they were down to $1049 billion, which was a 16% decrease. If this pace of the Chinese sell-off is to be maintained, China may be surpassed even by the Euro Area, which is already holding $922 billion.

However, there is nothing to be proud of. While the global tendency is for countries to get rid of US government securities, European states like Ireland and Luxembourg are still buying them. As ZeroHedge points out, in November all foreign holders of US Treasuries combined sold $70.8 billion, the most in one month ever, bringing their total holdings down to 3.771 trillion, far below the $4.117 trillion held one year ago.1)Foreign Central Banks Liquidate Record $405 Billion In US Treasuries As China Sells Most US Paper Since 2011, Source: Zerohedge 2017-01-19 The tendency is clear since the end of 2015 and Europe is going upstream.

The problem is caused by such financial hubs as Ireland, Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom (Ireland is the third single holder of US Treasury, just above another estimable tax haven: Cayman Islands). These three make up about 57% of the entire EU holdings, while only the UK is a big economy. During the next weeks the Gefira team will publish more on this topic trying to explain how it is possible that the Irish or Luxembourgers possess three times as many US papers as Germans, who have $86 billion (exactly the same amount is held by Russia).

We also recommend our latest edition of the Gefira Anticipation Bulletin where we show why such a big exposition of US Treasury is dangerous to the financial stability of Europe, especially in the context of Chinese economic troubles and enormous derivatives position of the biggest banks including European financial institutions such as Deutsche Bank.

References   [ + ]

1. ↑ Foreign Central Banks Liquidate Record $405 Billion In US Treasuries As China Sells Most US Paper Since 2011, Source: Zerohedge 2017-01-19

2 comments on “EU, not China or Japan, is the biggest US Treasury holder. And this is not a good sign.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>


GEFIRA BULLETIN

GET ACCESS TO CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

€225/$250 FOR 10 ISSUES

GEFIRA provides in-depth and comprehensive analysis of and valuable insight into current events that investors, financial planners and politicians need to know to anticipate the world of tomorrow; it is intended for professional and non-professional readers.

Yearly subscription: 10 issues for €225/$250
Renewal: €160/$175

The Gefira bulletin is available in ENGLISH, GERMAN and SPANISH.

RELATED NEWS

Der Kampf gegen Bargeld geht weiter

People spend the night in front of ATMs with the hope that money will be brought there and they will finally be able to withdraw it after standing in line for many hours. Sometimes the fights break out, even among those waiting in front of the banks. Tensions reach their peak. Branches are set on fire and people all over the country take to the streets….

Scenes from Cyprus 2013? No. Nigeria, Laos, April this year. Old banknotes were invalidated in February and since then no new ones have been printed, only the old ones collected from the market by the central bank and destroyed. At the same time, they introduced central bank digital currency (CBDC), which was not accepted by the people at all. Over 200 million people were deprived of their money overnight. Almost no one wanted to pay or transact with the new e-currency (called eNaira). Thousands of businesses went bankrupt in a short period of time. A paradoxical situation arose in which gasoline could no longer be bought at gas stations in the country, which is one of the largest oil producers in the world.

Nigeria, with its 22o million people, has long since overtaken South Africa and is the largest economy on the Dark Continent. It is a country with huge raw material resources and a development potential that African mentality and corruption, which is present everywhere, wreck. It can be said that it is a rich country of poor people because almost all the capital is in the hands of politicians. One of them, the head of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefile, said in Davos that his country would soon be cashless and – lo and behold – that might end with blood in the streets. It is hard to believe that in a country where 32% of the people are illiterate, where most people do not have access to electricity, the idea of digital currency comes from below; that the shamans had whispered it in the ears of ordinary people. No, it comes from above and from outside. Third World countries have always been a training ground for Western elites, the grassroots movement of the new authoritarian world without cash. This time they are testing how far and how fast they are able to implement their ideas.

Finally, it should be remembered that the complete transition to cash, would make citizens transparent. Central banks could regulate digital money, depending on how they would like a citizen. It could also be that the validity of the money would be limited in time and could only be spent for certain purposes. Electronically, that’s easy to organize. How embarrassing that would be for the Germans, 58% of whom pay in cash! Nigeria has also been called the “cash king” in Africa.

The virtual world threatens the physical world. More on this in Gefira 73.

by The Board

The battle against cash goes on

People spend the night in front of ATMs with the hope that money will be brought there and they will finally be able to withdraw it after standing in line for many hours. Sometimes the fights break out, even among those waiting in front of the banks. Tensions reach their peak. Branches are set on fire and people all over the country take to the streets….

Scenes from Cyprus 2013? No. Nigeria, Laos, April this year. Old banknotes were invalidated in February and since then no new ones have been printed, only the old ones collected from the market by the central bank and destroyed. At the same time, they introduced central bank digital currency (CBDC), which was not accepted by the people at all. Over 200 million people were deprived of their money overnight. Almost no one wanted to pay or transact with the new e-currency (called eNaira). Thousands of businesses went bankrupt in a short period of time. A paradoxical situation arose in which gasoline could no longer be bought at gas stations in the country, which is one of the largest oil producers in the world.

Nigeria, with its 22o million people, has long since overtaken South Africa and is the largest economy on the Dark Continent. It is a country with huge raw material resources and a development potential that African mentality and corruption, which is present everywhere, wreck. It can be said that it is a rich country of poor people because almost all the capital is in the hands of politicians. One of them, the head of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefile, said in Davos that his country would soon be cashless and – lo and behold – that might end with blood in the streets. It is hard to believe that in a country where 32% of the people are illiterate, where most people do not have access to electricity, the idea of digital currency comes from below; that the shamans had whispered it in the ears of ordinary people. No, it comes from above and from outside. Third World countries have always been a training ground for Western elites, the grassroots movement of the new authoritarian world without cash. This time they are testing how far and how fast they are able to implement their ideas.

Finally, it should be remembered that the complete transition to cash, would make citizens transparent. Central banks could regulate digital money, depending on how they would like a citizen. It could also be that the validity of the money would be limited in time and could only be spent for certain purposes. Electronically, that’s easy to organize. How embarrassing that would be for the Germans, 58% of whom pay in cash! Nigeria has also been called the “cash king” in Africa.

The virtual world threatens the physical world. More on this in Gefira 73.

by The Board


 
UK flag German flag Spain flag x
Menu
More