**WASHINGTON — Saudi Arabia has told the Obama administration and members of Congress that it will sell off hundreds of billions of dollars worth of American assets held by the kingdom if Congress passes a bill that would allow the Saudi government to be held responsible in American courts for any role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
** The Obama administration has lobbied Congress to block the bill’s passage, according to administration officials and congressional aides from both parties, and the Saudi threats have been the subject of intense discussions in recent weeks between lawmakers and officials from the State Department and the Pentagon. The officials have warned senators of diplomatic and economic fallout from the legislation.
**Adel al Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, delivered the kingdom’s message personally last month during a trip to Washington, telling lawmakers that Saudi Arabia would be forced to sell up to $750 billion in treasury securities and other assets in the United States before they could be in danger of being frozen by American courts.
Maybe this could be a blessing in disguise for the Saudi People, this would bring back all the Saudi wealth stashed out of reach of the average Saudis!**
Re: Saudi Arabia would be forced to sell up to $750 billion in treasury securities!
Blessing in disguise, perhaps. But who's to say that money will make it back to serve the needs of KSA residents? It's almost certain, that Saudi funds are diversified and invested in various countries, though USA may have the biggest contribution, but certainly not all of it. Maybe those diverted funds will be put in other investments?!
Re: Saudi Arabia would be forced to sell up to $750 billion in treasury securities!
if dollar goes cheap and oil is traded only in dollars, its bad news for saudis. now if it were a free market.....
Isn't oil priced only in dollars? Assuming it is, oil price goes up as dollar goes down. So all things being same,.oil prices go up isn't it. Now I am confused. Dont argue with me.
Re: Saudi Arabia would be forced to sell up to $750 billion in treasury securities!
Am not an expert in this area. But let us assume they own 500 billion dollars worth if US TREASURIES. That is the debt that the US govt has issued. These debt have maturities of 6 months , 2 years 5 years 10 years 30 years. Any thing less that 2 years is short term notes and 5 10 and 30 are treasury bills (I may have these reversed)
Longer the duration, the person buying this debt is lending money for longer duration. So demands higher interest rates.
Buying and selling happen in the open market. I don’t think anyone would sell all 500 billion at one time. They may place orders of maybe 100 million at a time. Or maybe a billion at a time. And sell over a period of time. Else the large sale itself can drop they price. And they get less in return.
They probably use brokerage houses to buy and sell bonds.
Some other person may correct any information that is not correct.