A handful of countries from the BRICS alliance are cutting ties with the U.S. Treasury by offloading Treasury bonds. BRICS is increasingly looking to diversify its portfolios with gold, local currencies, and other commodities such as oil and gas. The move is a hedge against U.S. economic policies that will narrow down the dollar’s ability to fund its deficit. Recent data from the U.S. Treasury Department shows that BRICS dumped $18.9 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds just this month.
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BRICS Offload $122.7 Billion in U.S. Treasuries
In 2023, BRICS offloaded $122.7 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds and is staying away from the government’s debt. BRICS member China is the highest, as it offloaded $117.4 billion worth of U.S. government debt this year. Between June and July, China reduced its holdings from $835.4 billion to $821.8 billion, a decline of $13.6 billion.
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Other BRICS member Brazil followed suit and reduced its U.S. Treasury holdings this year. Brazil’s U.S. treasury declined from $227.4 billion in June to $224.7 billion in July, a slump of $2.7 billion.
Another BRICS member, India, followed a similar path and trimmed its holdings by $2.3 billion during the same period. India has also allegedly dumped the U.S. dollar in the forex markets to keep the value of the Rupee from falling. Read here to learn how India offloaded the U.S. dollar to make the Rupee end stronger this month.
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Similarly, the UAE saw its U.S. treasury holdings fall by $300 million in July. UAE’s holdings slipped from $65.2 billion in June to $64.9 billion the next month. In total, BRICS has removed $122.7 billion worth of U.S. Treasury bonds from its reserves in 2023.
The alliance is finding various means to end the U.S. dollar’s supremacy and put local currencies ahead of the greenback. Read here to know how many sectors in the U.S. will be impacted if BRICS stops using the dollar.