Debt issuance increased in Q1: StatsCan

By Staff | June 10, 2019 | Last updated on June 10, 2019
1 min read
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Debt issuance rose in the first quarter, and bond prices surged too, according to new data from Statistics Canada.

StatsCan reported that Canadian governments and companies issued a total of $60.8 billion worth of debt securities in the quarter.

Powered by the strong new issue activity, the value of debt issued by Canadian entities increased by $41.2 billion to $4.3 trillion, rising 1.0% during the quarter, it noted.

The strong issuance activity was moderated by an increase in the value of the Canadian dollar against various foreign currencies, which curbed the value of Canadian debt denominated in foreign currencies by $17.8 billion to $1.1 trillion.

Financial corporations led the new issuance activity, raising $29.2 billion, StatsCan reported. It said that the banking sector accounted for more than half of the total.

Governments also issued $21.1 billion in new debt, and $10.4 billion came from non-financial corporations, mainly utilities companies.

StatsCan also reported that the market value of debt securities issued by Canadian entities rose by 3.2% in the first quarter to $4.54 trillion.

“The growth in market value mainly resulted from higher bond prices, notably longer term instruments. In particular, the value of debt securities issued with an original term of more than 10 years rose by 6.3% in the quarter, the highest relative growth of all types of maturities,” it said.

Advisor.ca staff

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.