Canada plans to make a U.S. dollar denominated global bond issue in the near future, federal finance minister Jim Flaherty said Friday.

No details were given on the planned issue, and Flaherty added the caveat that the plan is subject to market conditions.

A Department of Finance news release noted that this issue would be the government’s first foreign currency global bond issue in more than a decade.

“The U.S. dollar bond issue will provide funds to supplement Canada’s foreign exchange reserves and to meet foreign currency requirements to support current and anticipated lending by the International Monetary Fund,” it said.

In recent years, the government has relied primarily on cross-currency swaps to finance the government’s foreign exchange reserves. “The global bond issue will prudently diversify the government’s sources of foreign currency financing,” it said.

IE