What should bond market investors expect from the Federal government’s Debt Management Strategy?

On March 22nd , the Federal Minister of Finance will table his budget for fiscal year 2017–2018, and investors in Canadian bonds will keep an eye on the evolution of the borrowing program. While the total volume of bond issuance should not deviate too much from last year, one question is whether the government will continue to emphasize issuance of short-term bonds. This Economic Viewpoint provides a brief review of the federal government’s most recent fiscal year of bond issuance and provides an overview of the likely issuance program for the fiscal year beginning April 1st. While the government can easily auction bonds using parameters similar to those of the last fiscal year, there are also merits to increasing longer‑term debt issuance.