(Yicai) March 20 -- China, the United States’ second-largest creditor, increased its holdings of US Treasury bonds in the first month of this year.

China’s holdings of US Treasuries rose by USD1.8 billion to USD760.8 billion in January from the previous month, according to data released by the US Department of the Treasury yesterday. The country has been holding less than USD1 trillion US Treasury bonds since April 2022.

China hiked its US Treasuries holdings three times last year, in April, June, and November, while it trimmed them in the remaining nine months.

Japan, the US’ largest creditor, increased its holdings by USD19.5 billion to USD1.079 trillion. Also the United Kingdom, the third-biggest creditor, raised its holdings by USD17.5 billion to USD740.2 billion.

The net inflow into short- and long-term US securities and bank flows stood at USD48.8 billion in January, of which about USD26 billion were inflows of official funds, and USD74.8 billion were outflows of foreign private funds, the data from the US Department of the Treasury also showed.

Editor: Futura Costaglione