Fuelled by investment in foreign bonds, Canadian investment in foreign securities reached a record $78.3 billion in 2006, Statistics Canada reported today.

Canadians closed out the year by investing $5.6 billion in foreign securities in December, with 70% in debt instruments and the remaining 30% in equities.

StatsCan said that non-residents reduced their holdings of Canadian securities by $3.3 billion in December, mostly due to sizeable retirements of Canadian bonds, after purchases totalling $11.1 billion in November.

Non-residents invested $28.2 billion in Canadian securities in 2006, nearly half in Canadian bonds.

Canadians resumed their heavy purchases of foreign bonds, buying $3.4 billion worth in December while their annual investment for 2006 amounted to a record $43 billion.

Canadians’ annual investments in foreign bonds are five times what they were in 2003.