HispanicBusiness

Total foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury securities rose to a new high in July, indicating strong international demand for American government debt amid the simmering eurozone debt crisis, the U.S. Treasury Department reported Tuesday.

Overall foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury securities reached 5.3485 trillion U.S. dollars in July, up from a revised $5.3110 trillion in June. It was the seventh consecutive monthly increase.

According to the Treasury International capital report, China, the largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasury securities, boosted its holdings by 26 billion dollars from June to $1.1496 trillion in July.

Japan, the second largest foreign holder of U.S. government debt, increased its holdings from 1.1101 trillion dollars to $1.1171 trillion.

The strong demand for U.S. government debt is key to funding its mounting deficit, which has reached 1.16 trillion dollars for the first 11 months of the 2012 fiscal year, marking the fourth consecutive year that the U.S. central government's budget deficit has topped $1 trillion.