Foreign Direct Investment in Canada Posts First Drop in 14 Years as HSBC Sells Local Unit

Statistics Canada’s offices in Ottawa on March 8, 2019. The Canadian Press/Justin Tang

Foreign direct investment in Canada has dropped for the first quarter in 14 years, Statistics Canada data shows, after UK lender HSBC sold its local division to the Royal Bank of Canada in March.

Foreign direct investors withdrew $6.2 billion from Canada in the first three months of this year, StatCan said in its press release on the country’s first-quarter balance of international payments.