Which countries are the largest foreign holders of Canadian government bonds?
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Executive summary
Official data and central-bank analysis show that non-residents — a group that includes foreign central banks, sovereign wealth funds and overseas asset managers — are among the largest holders of Government of Canada (GoC) bonds, and non-residents together with Canadian pension funds held about 62% of publicly available GoC bonds as of early 2025 [1]. Bank of Canada research specifically highlights that foreign central banks own a “large share” of GoC bonds and tend to be long-term, buy-and-hold investors [2].
1. Who the big foreign holders are: institutions, not nationalities
Public reporting and Bank of Canada analysis identify categories of foreign holders rather than a simple country ranking: foreign central banks, sovereign wealth funds, foreign-based investment funds, bank treasuries and foreign hedge funds are named as the main non-resident investors in GoC bonds [3] [1] [2]. Canada’s own Finance Department describes the investor base for recent US-dollar global bonds as including central banks, international institutions and foreign-based funds — again emphasising investor type over home country [3].
2. How large their share is: non-residents plus pension funds dominate
Bank of Canada staff estimate that non-residents together with Canadian pension funds held 62% of publicly available Government of Canada bonds in early 2025, indicating that foreign investors are a dominant demand source in the market [1]. Separate Bank of Canada work also finds that foreign central banks hold a “large share” of GoC bonds and tend to be more buy-and-hold than other managers [2].
3. Why public reporting doesn’t give a neat country-by-country list
Available official releases and analytical notes emphasize investor type and aggregate non-resident holdings rather than a country-by-country ledger [3] [1] [2]. The Bank of Canada publishes holdings and market tables (for example, bonds outstanding and holdings pages) but the sources provided here do not list the largest foreign holders by nationality [4] [5] [6]. Therefore, country-by-country rankings are not present in the current reporting you provided.
4. Recent flows that reflect foreign appetite
Statistics Canada reported a surge in foreign purchases of Canadian bonds in January 2025 — non-resident investors increased exposure to Canadian bonds by $33.5 billion, the largest monthly investment since April 2020 — and foreign investors were active across federal and provincial securities and corporate bonds [7] [8]. Finance Canada’s recent US-dollar global bond issuance also drew a geographically diversified buyer base including central banks and foreign investment funds, underscoring international demand [3].
5. Why it matters: liquidity, price impact and stability
Bank of Canada analysis shows that demand from large institutional investors — foreign investors and Canadian pension funds — explains a large share of GoC bond price movements (about 69% of quarterly variation from 2000–2025), so who holds these bonds matters for liquidity and price dynamics [1]. The Bank also notes foreign central banks’ buy-and-hold behaviour could support market stability because they are less likely to sell quickly in episodes of stress [2].
6. Alternative sources and what they might show (but are not in provided reporting)
Commercial market-data providers and the U.S. Treasury publish country-by-country listings for major foreign holders of U.S. Treasuries, and private data vendors sometimes produce investor-breakdown estimates for sovereign bond markets — however, the dataset snippets you provided do not include a clean, public country ranking of foreign holders of GoC bonds [4] [9]. The Reuters and other market-press pieces in your set focus on issuance and demand but not a definitive nationality list in these results [10].
7. Caveats, limitations and potential agendas in the sources
Bank of Canada staff notes its estimates rely on different approaches and datasets because there is no single comprehensive dataset of foreign central-bank holdings; that methodological patchwork affects precision [2]. Finance Canada frames global bond issuance as evidence of “broad international confidence” — a communication objective that supports sovereign borrowing programs [3]. Statistics Canada reports transaction flows but aggregates by residency and instrument type rather than providing issuer-level nationality breakdowns [7].
8. Bottom line for readers seeking country rankings
If you want a ranked list of which countries are the largest foreign holders of Canadian government bonds, available sources in this set do not provide such a country-by-country table; they instead show that non-resident institutions (in particular foreign central banks and investment funds) are major holders and that non-residents plus Canadian pension funds hold roughly 62% of publicly available GoC bonds as of early 2025 [1] [2]. To obtain a country ranking you would need a different dataset or direct disclosures that break non-resident holdings by counterparty nationality, which are not present in the documents supplied here [4] [5].