Total foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury securities continued to rise in January, indicating rising international demand for American government debt, the Treasury Department reported on Friday.

Overall foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury securities reached 5. 6165 trillion U.S. dollars in January, up from a revised 5.5738 trillion in December 2012. It was the 13th consecutive monthly increase.

According to the Treasury International Capital report, China, the largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasury securities, boosted its holdings by 44.1 billion dollars to 1.2645 trillion.

Japan, the second largest foreign holder of U.S. government debt, increased its holdings from 1.1112 trillion dollars in December to 1.1152 trillion in January.

The strong demand for U.S. government debt is key to Washington 's efforts to fund the mounting federal deficit, which reached 1. 089 trillion dollars in the 2012 fiscal year ending last September -- the fourth consecutive year that the figure exceeded 1 trillion.