Total foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury securities increased in March, while China regained its position as the largest holder, figures released by the Department of the Treasury showed Friday.

The overall foreign holdings of Treasuries reached 6.1759 trillion U.S. dollars in March, up from a revised 6.1628 trillion dollars in February.

China added 37.3 billion U.S. dollars of Treasuries to 1.26 trillion U.S. dollars, surpassing Japan to reclaim its position as the top buyer. Japan increased 2.5 billion U.S. dollars to 1.23 trillion U.S. dollars.

The strong demand of U.S. government debt is key to funding its mounting budget deficit.