Canada Plans First U.S.-Dollar Global Bond in Decade

Canada plans to sell as much as $3 billion of U.S.-dollar bonds worldwide in “the near future,” the first such sale in more than a decade, to boost foreign- exchange reserves and support lending by the International Monetary Fund.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced the sale on the department’s Web site today, without giving the amount to be sold. Department spokesman Jack Aubry said the sale would be “benchmark size,” worth as much as $3 billion.

“The global bond issue will prudently diversify the government’s sources of foreign currency financing,” the statement said. The government also uses swaps to fund its Exchange Fund Account where foreign currencies are held.

Bloomberg