Investments of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries in US Treasury bills and bonds amounted to $221.7 billion at the end of 2021.
According to US Treasury data, these investments rose 0.1 percent on a monthly basis from November due to the increase in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait’s holdings of US securities.
The investments of Saudi Arabia, the largest Gulf state holder of US bonds, increased by 2.14 percent per month to reach $119 billion at the end of December 2021, compared to $116.5 billion at the end of November.
But on an annual basis, it appears that Saudi Arabia has reduced its investments by about $17 billion from $136 billion at the end of December 2020.
Kuwait’s investments amounted to $46.4 billion, an increase of 2.6 percent from November. And without much change from what it was at the end of 2020.
As for the UAE, which came in third place, its investments amounted to $44.8 billion last December, a decrease of 7.8 percent from November.
On an annual basis, UAE investments increased by $12.6 billion from $32.2 billion at the end of 2020.
Qatar’s investments in the US dollar also decreased to $4.7 billion from $5.14 billion at the end of last November.
This was followed by the Sultanate of Oman, which also reduced its investments to reach $5.403 billion from $5.42 billion.
Bahrain came last in the Gulf list of US bond investments, although it raised it to $1.35 billion at the end of December 2021 from $649 million last November.
