The US government owes 14.3 trillion dollars to creditors, including about a third to foreign countries and foreign investors, and nearly another third to US pension funds and investors, according to dpa. But it owes its largest debt to itself - about 5.7 trillion dollars - in the form of assets that have been borrowed from the Social Security pension scheme and the Medicare health system for the elderly. The total debt figure hit 14.3 trillion dollars in May, according to the US Treasury. US creditors are watching nervously as US President Barack Obama and Republicans in Congress remain at odds ahead of a looming August 2 deadline to raise the debt ceiling, so the US government can borrow enough to continue paying its bills. The alternative, according to Obama's Treasury Department, is US default, which would mean Washington could not pay all of its debts, which include interest and principle owed to bond holders and pensions and health care for the elderly. Debt owed abroad added up to about 4.5 trillion dollars as of 2010, the most recent available year. China's government and private investors held the biggest chunk at 1.2 billion dollars, or about 8 per cent of total debt, followed by Japan at 912 billion dollars, Britain at 346 billion dollars and oil-exporting countries at 230 billion dollars. Brazil held 211 billion dollars, while Taiwan, Russia and Hong Kong each held more than 100 billion dollars. The remaining 3.9 trillion dollars was owed to private US pension and other savings funds (1.6 trillion dollars), individual investors (1.2 trillion dollars), state and local governments (500 billion dollars) and banks and insurance companies (600 billion dollars).
