Fed: Value of Munis Held Is 30% Larger Than Thought

The total value of all municipal securities and loans held is 30% greater than what had been estimated, the Federal Reserve said Thursday.

The new figures come from the third-quarter release of the Fed’s flow of funds accounts.

The second-quarter version of this publication said the total value of assets of municipal securities and loans was $2.8860 trillion in the second quarter of 2011. The third-quarter version, released today, said the total for the second quarter was $3.7505 trillion. The total for the third quarter was $3.7336 trillion.

The increase is almost entirely due to new estimates for the amount held by what the Fed calls the household sector, or what the industry calls retail. The old value for the second quarter was $1.0662 trillion and the new value for that quarter is $1.9298 trillion.

“The estimate of household holdings of municipal securities and loans is revised up by about $840 billion, on average, from 2004 forward,” the third-quarter report said.

“Data on debt outstanding and net issuance for state and local governments, nonprofit organizations … are now based on data from Mergent, a private data vendor,” the report said.

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