Debt management, Foreign reserves management

• May 10, 1996

  Financing activities of provincial governments and their enterprises

  Bank of Canada Review - Spring 1996 Philip Wooldridge

  This article examines the changes that have occurred in the composition of funds raised by provincial borrowers during the 1990s. Higher financing requirements, coupled with the declining availability of funds from non-market sources such as the Canada Pension Plan, led provincial governments and their Crown corporations to broaden and to diversify their debt management programs. In particular, provincial borrowers expanded their presence in foreign bond markets, increased their issuance of floating-rate debt, and incorporated a wide variety of innovative debt instruments into their borrowing programs in order to minimize their borrowing costs and to manage the risks associated with the issuing of debt. As a result, the composition of funds raised by provincial borrowers during the 1990s differed markedly from that of the previous decade: between 1990 and 1995, provincial borrowing requirements were met almost entirely through the issuance of marketable debt, and net new foreign currency debt issues averaged nearly 50 per cent of funds raised, whereas between 1980 and 1989, non-market sources provided close to 30 per cent of funds raised, and net new foreign currency debt issues provided less than 20 per cent.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Debt management, Fiscal policy
• May 6, 1995

  Managing the federal government's cash balances: A technical note

  Bank of Canada Review - Spring 1995 Daryl Merrett, Serge Boisvert, Philippe Côté

  In addition to its primary role as the country's central bank, the Bank of Canada also acts as the federal government's banker and financial adviser. One of the activities associated with this role as fiscal agent is managing the government's Canadian dollar balances. This function is examined in this article. The main priority is to ensure that the government has sufficient cash to meet its daily needs. This requires careful forecasting and monitoring of the government's daily receipt and expenditure flows, as well as an ongoing borrowing program to refinance maturing debt and to replenish the balances during periods when outflows, on average, exceed inflows. The cost of borrowing to raise cash balances for the government is considerably higher than the interest earned on any balances that are available "on demand." To reduce this net cost, balances in excess of those required for daily needs are invested in "term" deposits that earn a higher rate of interest than that earned on the demand balances. The net cost of holding government balances has also been reduced through the use of cash management bills, which are flexible, short-term borrowing instruments that complement the government's regular weekly issues of 3-, 6- and 12-month treasury bills.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Debt management

• La non-neutralité du mode de financement du gouvernement

  Technical Report No. 36 Paul Masson

  It has long been a subject of debate among economists as to whether different methods of financing government expenditures—issuing bonds or raising taxes—will bring about different effects on the economy. The purpose of this technical report is to quantify the substitution effects brought about by tax rate changes and to see to what extent they […]

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Technical reports Topic(s): Debt management JEL Code(s): H, H6, H60