Saudi Arabia’s stockpile of US Treasuries fell to the lowest level in more than six years, as the kingdom allocates more of its oil wealth to riskier assets.
The Gulf country in June sold more than $3 billion in US government debt, offloading the securities for a third consecutive month to bring its holdings to $108.1 billion, according to Treasury Department data. The neighboring United Arab Emirates sold nearly $4 billion.
The Arab Gulf region’s petrostates are seeking out new avenues for investing to get higher returns in a world where a backlash is building against the hegemony of the US dollar. For Saudi Arabia, whose holdings of Treasuries are down over 41% since early 2020, the choice increasingly fell on assets including investments in Lucid Group Inc., Uber Technologies Inc. and Newcastle United.
The share of Saudi Arabia’s external wealth in risky assets stood at around 40% by the end of 2022, according to Bloomberg Economics. It’s more than doubled since 2016, when then-Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said he’d wanted to invest in sectors other than oil.
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