Investors’ geographical preference changed compared to previous years. From 2008 to 2009 investors bought debt securities from Portugal, Ireland, Greece and the United States, while disposing of German debt securities. In total, Dutch investors in 2010 on balance sold EUR 10 billion of foreign debt securities. The first quarter of 2011 saw a turnaround; during this period, Dutch investors bought foreign debt securities again worth EUR 12 billion.
Surge in investments in German and French debt paper
| Date | 23 August 2011 |
|---|---|
| Theme | Statistics |
In 2010 and the first quarter of 2011, Dutch investors bought German and French debt securities at the expense of debt from Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Italy and – particularly – the United States. Total net bond and money market paper purchases from Germany and France in this period amounted to EUR 45 billion.
Conversely, foreign investors in 2010 bought EUR 27 billion of Dutch debt securities and in the first quarter of 2011 another EUR 19 billion. These purchases mainly consisted of debt paper from Dutch banks, which in this period issued new debt. On the other hand, Dutch government debt on balance was sold by foreign investors. As a result, the foreign share in Dutch government paper holdings declined from 79 per cent by the end of 2009 to 67 per cent by the end of 2010. Besides their German and French debt holdings, Dutch investors also considerably extended their positions in Dutch government paper. These statistics confirm that in this period Dutch investment portfolios saw a shift to relatively low-risk paper.
For
a comprehensive description of the developments in cross-border securities holdings, please click on the link under 'downloads'.