Stronger markets and foreign exchange trends delivered a record boost to Canada’s international investment position in the second quarter, according to new data from Statistics Canada.
On Thursday, the national statistical agency reported that Canada’s net foreign asset position — the difference between international financial assets and liabilities — jumped by $619.2 billion in the quarter to $1.95 trillion.
“This was the largest quarterly increase on record and followed two consecutive quarters of decline,” Statistics Canada said.
The gains were driven primarily by stronger markets, as market gains added an “unprecedented” $495.8 billion to net foreign assets.
The major foreign stock markets all posted robust gains in the quarter, the national agency said — Japanese markets were up 37.2% in the quarter, followed by U.S. market gains of 14.9%, and European markets, which were up 13.6%. The Canadian stock market gained 6.4% in the quarter.
The rest of the increase largely reflected a weaker Canadian dollar, which depreciated against the British pound (2%), U.S. dollar (1.9%) and euro (0.9%) in the quarter.
Both of the second quarter’s major drivers have a large impact on the net foreign asset position, as 97.1% of Canada’s international assets were denominated in foreign currencies, versus 35.8% of international liabilities — and, 69.8% of international assets are held in equities, compared with 49.3% of liabilities.
During the quarter, the value of Canada’s international assets rose by $1.1 trillion — the largest quarterly gain on record — while liabilities were up by $474.2 billion from the previous quarter.
Statistics Canada also noted that there was record foreign buying of Canadian government bonds in the quarter, boosting foreign borrowing activity by $145.6 billion.
“The share of total outstanding federal government bonds held by foreign investors has grown substantially in recent years, rising from a low of 27% in the first quarter of 2021 to a high of 44.6% in the second quarter of 2026,” the agency reported.
The value of Canadian debt held by foreign investors rose by $204.1 billion in the quarter to $5.05 trillion — which now represents 146.9% of GDP, up from 145.6% in the previous quarter.