The Washington Post Thursday, January 29, 1987 E3  
The Treasury Department is not worried that the weakening dollar, which makes U.S. assets less attractive, will affect the level of foreign demand for government securities, a Treasury official said yesterday.</br></br>The official, Charles O. Sethness, assistant secretary for domestic finance, also said Treasury plans to sell $29 billion in new securities in its quarterly refunding next week to raise $14.3 billion in new cash and refund $14.7 billion of publicly held coupon securities maturing on Feb. 15.</br></br>Some financial market analysts had expressed concern during the past few weeks that the sharp dip in the value of the dollar against the Japanese yen would make U.S. Treasury securities less attractive to Japanese investors, requiring the Treasury to bid up interest rates on those issues to lure foreigners back.</br></br>A weaker dollar means that foreigners earn less on their investments when their profits are converted into their own currencies. The government needs foreign participation in its securities to finance the deficit.</br></br>The government said in a special budget supplement issued yesterday that the proportion of federal debt held by foreigners has actually declined compared to the late 1970s and early 1980s. For example, foreigners held 19 percent of U.S. debt in 1979, compared with 15 percent last year. The government attributed this trend to the Û¢ rapid growth in total government securities outstanding.