Wednesday, July 25, 2012

U.S. debt to China and Japan, 2001-2011


The following figures from the Treasury Department indicate the amount of debt owed by the United States to China and Japan. Today each of these countries holds about 7-9% of U.S. debt.  From January 2001 to December 2008 (aka the George W. Bush administration) the amount owed to China grew from $61.5 billion to $727.4 billion, the latter figure nearly 12 times the earlier figure. In the first four years of the GWB presidency, the debt to China increased nearly 4 times. Under President Obama, this has continued, though the growth rate has slowed.  In January 2009 the debt to China was $739.6 billion, rising to $1151.9 billion in December 2011, about 1.5 times the earlier figure.  U.S. debt to Japan doubled in the 8 years of the Bush administration, and under Obama the debt to Japan is nearly double what it was when he took office. 

 In billions of U.S. dollars

           1/01    10/01  12/01   06/02   12/02    12/03    12/04     12/05    12/06   12/07     09/08
China  61.5      72.3   78.6      96.5    118.4    159.0    222.9     310.0    396.9   477.6      618.2
Japan 312.3   314.5 317.9    335.8     378.1   550.8    689.9     670.0    622.9   581.0      617.5

           12/08     01/09      12/09       06/10     12/11
China 727.4     739.6       894.8      1112.1    1151.9
Japan  626.0     634.8      765.7        799.9    1058.0

No comments:

Post a Comment