The United Arab Emirates bought more U.S. Treasuries than China in February, breaking with other top oil exporters in the Persian Gulf region that cut back on their exposure to one of the world’s safest assets.
OPEC’s third-biggest producer raised its stockpile by almost 50% 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 U.K., according to the latest figures from the U.S. Treasury Department. The monthly haul was the biggest ever for the UAE.
The reasons behind the rise weren’t clear and the UAE central bank didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But the UAE, whose capital Abu Dhabi is home to almost 6% of the world’s oil reserves, may have built up enough of a buffer to commit the spare petrodollars toward the $21 trillion Treasuries market.
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.
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