China Worried About Fannie and Freddie Debt
The Wall Street Journal reports:
BEIJING—China's government, one of the biggest holders of debt from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, voiced confidence that Washington would continue to stand behind the obligations of the U.S. mortgage giants after the Obama administration outlined options for phasing them out.
The statement by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or SAFE, the arm of China's central bank that manages foreign-exchange reserves, reflects Beijing's continued concern about perceptions within China of the safety of its U.S. investments. Most of China's $2.85 trillion in reserves is invested in dollar assets, and while China doesn't disclose the size of its holdings of Fannie and Freddie securities, past records show it owning hundreds of billions of dollars of debt from them and other U.S. government-linked agencies.
Chinese officials have raised concerns about the possible impact of U.S. policy on the future value of China's dollar holdings, saying loose monetary policy could hurt the value of U.S. assets. But the government has also rejected rumors that it has lost money on its existing holdings of Fannie and Freddie debt.
The Obama administration on Friday issued a white paper on plans to reduce U.S. government involvement in the mortgage market, including an eventual phaseout of Fannie and Freddie, which the government took over in 2008. But the White House's report emphasized that it "will not waver from its commitment" to ensuring that the two "have sufficient capital to honor any guarantees issued now or in the future and meet any of their debt obligations."
SAFE's statement, posted on its website Saturday, said the White House plan "has aroused widespread public interest and concern that our foreign-exchange reserve investments could be damaged." The statement said China has not had losses on its Fannie and Freddie holdings, and added that SAFE "took particular notice that the U.S. government's commitment to support [Fannie and Freddie] hasn't changed."
China. U.S Treasury data show that as of June 2009 China held $454 billion of long-term U.S. agency debt, the bulk believed to be Fannie and Freddie debt. More recent figures on its holdings haven't been published.
