UAE overtakes China in $17bn US treasuries purchase

The UAE is piling back into US treasuries according to recently released data. (AFP)

• China bought $9 billion of treasuries in February
• Monthly haul was biggest ever for UAE

RIYADH: The UAE bought more US treasuries than China in February, breaking with other top oil exporters in the Arabian Gulf that cut back on their exposure to one of the world’s safest assets, Bloomberg reported.
OPEC’s third-biggest producer raised its stockpile by almost 50 percent to $50.6 billion at the end of February, an increase of nearly $17 billion that made it the second-biggest buyer of the securities that month after the UK, according to the latest figures from the US Treasury Department.
The monthly haul was the biggest ever for the UAE, with no clear reasons.
The UAE may have built up enough of a buffer to commit the spare petrodollars toward the $21 trillion treasuries market, Bloomberg said.
The move took UAE holdings to levels last seen in 2019 before the global pandemic and the crash in oil prices put pressure on its finances. China bought $9 billion of treasuries in February to bring its total to $1.1 trillion, the highest since mid-2019.
Both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait were net sellers of treasuries in February.