Treasury International Capital Data for February
U.S. Department of the Treasury sent this bulletin at 04/17/2023 04:00 PM EDT
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Office of Public Affairs
Press Release: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 17, 2023
Contact: Treasury Public Affairs; Press@Treasury.gov
Treasury International Capital Data for February
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today released Treasury International Capital (TIC) data for February 2023. The next release, which will report on data for March 2023, is scheduled for May 15, 2023.
The sum total in February of all net foreign acquisitions of long-term securities, short-term U.S. securities, and banking flows was a net TIC inflow of $28.0 billion. Of this, net foreign private outflows were $37.4 billion, and net foreign official inflows were $65.5 billion.
Foreign residents increased their holdings of long-term U.S. securities in February; net purchases were $63.6 billion. Net purchases by private foreign investors were $9.4 billion, while net purchases by foreign official institutions were $54.2 billion.
U.S. residents decreased their holdings of long-term foreign securities, with net sales of $7.4 billion.
Taking into account transactions in both foreign and U.S. securities, net foreign purchases of long-term securities were $71.0 billion. After including adjustments, such as estimated foreign portfolio acquisitions of U.S. stocks through stock swaps, overall net foreign purchases of long-term securities are estimated to have been $72.2 billion in February.
Foreign residents increased their holdings of U.S. Treasury bills by $25.5 billion. Foreign resident holdings of all dollar-denominated short-term U.S. securities and other custody liabilities decreased by $32.5 billion.
Banks’ own net dollar-denominated liabilities to foreign residents decreased by $11.6 billion.
Complete data are available on the Treasury website at:
https://home.treasury.gov/data/treasury-international-capital-tic-system
About TIC Data
The monthly data on holdings of long-term securities, as well as the monthly table on Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities, reflect foreign holdings of U.S. securities collected primarily on the basis of custodial data. These data help provide a window into foreign ownership of U.S. securities, but they cannot attribute holdings of U.S. securities with complete accuracy. For example, if a U.S. Treasury security purchased by a foreign resident is held in a custodial account in a third country, the true ownership of the security will not be reflected in the data. The custodial data will also not properly attribute U.S. Treasury securities managed by foreign private portfolio managers who invest on behalf of residents of other countries. In addition, foreign countries may hold dollars and other U.S. assets that are not captured in the TIC data. For these reasons, it is difficult to draw precise conclusions from TIC data about changes in the foreign holdings of U.S. financial assets by individual countries.
Announcement of New Data on Cross-Border Transactions in Long-Term Securities
As described in last month’s press release, starting today, the Treasury International Capital (TIC) system is revising some reporting procedures and changing some file names and file formats on its website,
https://home.treasury.gov/data/treasury-international-capital-tic-system
There is no change to the format of the monthly TIC press release. However, changes to underlying sources of data on cross-border purchases and sales of long-term securities constitute a series break, starting with data for February 2023.
For changes to TIC data on long-term securities, see the notice dated April 17 on the web page listed above. TIC reporting and file formats on banking claims and liabilities, derivatives, and claims and liabilities of nonfinancial firms remain unchanged.
