Business

Belgium snaps up US debt in droves

Belgium is not waffling on buying US debt, say traders and analysts.

Treasury traders are suspicious about the latest Treasury International Capital (TIC) data for February. How on earth did little Belgium — with $20 billion in foreign exchange reserves — add $30.9 billion in Treasuries to reach a new total of $341.2 billion?

Belgium’s holdings of Treasuries rose $95 billion in the first two months of 2014. But that must be foreign accounts acting, since Belgium’s own foreign exchange reserve assets are only $20 billion, Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts Priya Misra and Shyam Rajan said in a Market News International report.

Their guess is that China is buying Treasuries through the Euroclear settlement house in Brussels, and it shows up as a Belgium buy.

Belgium is now the third-largest holder country in US debt in the world.