Canadian governments and corporations borrowed a net $36.7 billion in debt securities in the second quarter of 2025, the lowest borrowing activity since the third quarter of 2023, according to Statistics Canada.
Activity in the second quarter reflected strong net issuances by governments moderated by net repayments by financial corporations.
Net issuances of government debt securities reached $71.3 billion in the second quarter, the highest value recorded since the second quarter of 2021. Meanwhile, provincial and territorial governments issued a net $32.6 billion over the same period.
On the other hand, Canadian financial corporations repaid a net $51.2 billion of their debt securities over the quarter. Canadian chartered banks led the repayment, retiring a net $52.3 billion worth of debt securities. Most of the net retirement activity came from bonds with an original maturity of two to five years issued during high borrowing needs in the Covid pandemic.
The stock of Canadian debt securities, in book value terms, reached $6.2 trillion at the end of the second quarter, down $18.7 billion from the previous quarter. The depreciation of the U.S. dollar against the Canadian dollar contributed to the downward revaluation of the stock, as about one-fifth of Canadian debt securities are denominated in U.S. currency.
The total outstanding market value of listed Canadian equity securities grew by $391 billion to reach $5.3 trillion at the end of the second quarter of 2025.
Net retirements of Canadian equity securities reached $9.5 billion in the second quarter. Financial corporations retired $9.7 billion worth of equity securities, while non-financial corporations issued a net $0.2 billion of equity securities. This is the first time since the first quarter of 2021 that new issuances by non-financial corporations exceeded retirements.
Canadian holdings of foreign securities rose to $4.2 trillion at the end of the second quarter, up $122 billion from the previous quarter. The increase was driven by strong growth in foreign equity prices, notably U.S. stock prices, and moderated by the appreciation of the Canadian dollar against the U.S. dollar.
Holdings of foreign shares stood at $3.2 trillion, while holdings of foreign debt securities reached $1 trillion. At the end of the second quarter, 71.6% of all foreign securities held by Canadian investors were U.S. instruments.