Canada has emerged as an unexpected creditor country, despite its inhabitants carrying huge debt loads, reports The Globe and Mail.
For the first time in at least 90 years, Canada has more assets abroad than foreigners have in Canada. These include properties, direct investments, stocks, foreign currency reserves and many others.
A recent report from Statistics Canada shows that that the country had $26.7 billion worth of net assets at the end of 2013, an increase from a net liability position of $302.1 billion at the close of 2012.
Peter Buchanan, senior economist at CIBC World Markets indicated that since 1926, Canada has been an international debtor nearly every year. He adds that it is highly likely that the country was in a similar position for even longer, especially when taking into account the payments toward the large-scale debt to build the continental railway.
“Canada is now a net creditor to the rest of the world,” Douglas Porter, chief economist for Bank of Montreal said in an interview.
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