Who is the Largest Holder of US Government Debt?

If you guessed that China is the largest holder of US Government debt, you would be wrong. The largest holder is the Federal Reserve.

In its latest monthly report, the Federal Reserve said that it owned $1.665 trillion in US Treasury securities as of September 28, 2011. That is more than double what it owned a year ago.

China owns $1.1483 trillion in US Treasury securities according to the data published today by the US Treasury Department. Last year, China owned about $339.9 billion more in US Treasury securities than the Federal Reserve at that time. Now, the Federal Reserve owns about $516.7 billion more than China.