(Yicai) Oct. 18 -- China, the United States’ second-largest creditor, cut its holdings of US Treasury bonds for the second consecutive month in August.

China’s holdings of US Treasuries fell by USD1.9 billion to USD774.6 billion in August 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 trimmed its US Treasuries holdings in January, February, and March. It slightly increased them in April and then cut them again in May. In June, China hiked its US Treasury bond possession again and then returned to reduce them in July.

Japan, the US’ largest creditor, increased its holdings by USD13.5 billion to USD1.129 trillion in August. The United Kingdom, the third-biggest creditor, also raised its holdings by USD15.6 billion to USD743.9 billion.

The net foreign inflow into short- and long-term US securities and bank flows stood at USD79.2 billion in August, of which about USD600 million were official funds, and USD19.7 billion were foreign private funds, the data from the US Department of the Treasury also showed.

Editor: Futura Costaglione