REPORT ON U.S. HOLDINGS OF FOREIGN SECURITIES

AT END-YEAR 2003

The findings from an annualsurvey of U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities at year-end 

2003 are released today and posted on the U.S. Treasury web site at 

(http://www.treas.gov/tic/fpis.html). 

The survey was undertaken jointly by the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York,

and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The previous survey was for yearend 2001, and some revisions of that survey are reported in this release. Future surveys are 

scheduled to be carried out annually and the next report will present results from the survey for 

year-end 2004. 

A complementary survey measuring foreign holdings of U.S. securities is also carried out 

annually. Data from the most recent such survey, which reports on securities held on June 30, 

2004, are currently being processed. Preliminary results are expected to be reported by April 30,

2005.

Overall Results

The survey measured U.S. holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2003 of approximately 

$3,152 billion, with $2,079 billion held in foreign equities, $874 billion in foreign long-term debt 

securities (original term-to-maturity in excess of one year), and $199 billion in foreign short-term 

debt securities. The previous survey, conducted as of year-end 2001, measured U.S. holdings of 

approximately $2,317 billion, with $1,613 billion held in foreign equities, $557 billion in foreign 

long-term debt securities (revised from $502 billion), and $147 billion in foreign short-term debt 

securities (see Table 1). 

The surveys are part of an internationally coordinated effort under the auspices of the 

International Monetary Fund (IMF) to improve the measurement of portfolio asset holdings. 

Table 1. U.S. holdings of foreign securities, by type of security, as of survey dates1

(Billions of dollars, except as noted)

Type of Security Dec. 31, 2001 Dec. 31, 2003

Long-term Securities 2,170 2,954

equity 1,613 2,079

long-term debt 557 874

Short-term debt securities 147 199

Total 2,317 3,152

U.S. Portfolio Investment by Country

 
2

Table 2. U.S. holdings of foreign securities, by country and type of security, for the 

countries attracting the most U.S. investment, as of December 31, 2003

(Billions of dollars)

Debt securities:

Total Equities Long-term Short-term

1 United Kingdom 663 421 143 99

2 Japan 307 255 37 14

3 Canada 301 149 139 12

4 Germany 189 103 71 15

5 France 185 131 43 11

6 Netherlands 182 116 58 8

7 Cayman Islands 125 45 76 4

8 Switzerland 120 118 1 1

9 Bermuda 116 108 9 0

10 Australia 91 56 29 5

11 Italy 67 39 25 3

12 Mexico 56 29 28 0

13 South Korea 53 49 4 0

14 Spain 52 44 6 1

15 Brazil 50 32 18 0

16 Sweden 45 28 13 5

17 Finland 41 35 6 0

18 Hong Kong, S.A.R. 38 36 1 0

19 Ireland 33 22 8 3

20 Israel 29 16 12 0

21 Taiwan 27 27 0 0

22 Singapore 25 22 3 0

23 Netherlands Antilles 25 23 1 0

24 Luxembourg 23 6 15 2

25 Denmark 22 10 10 2

Rest of world 287 159 116 12

Total value of investment 3,152 2,079 874 199

1

 The stock of foreign securities for December 31, 2003 reported in this survey does not, for a number or reasons, 

correspond to the stock of foreign securities on December 31, 2001 plus cumulative flows reported in Treasury’s 

transactions reporting system. An analysis of the relation between the stock and flow data is available in Table 5 

and the associated text of the final report on U.S. holdings of foreign securities at end-year 2003.