PARIS: Half of France's newly-issued debt this year is being bought by investors from Asia and the Middle East, a sharp increase from a only a third the previous year, the head of France's debt management agency said on Friday.
"This year, half of the net debt purchasers come from Asia and the Middle East compared to 33 percent in 2011 and 20 percent in 2010," said AFT head Philippe Mills in an interview on the Next Finance website.
Only 30 percent came from the eurozone, with French entities, in particular insurance companies, well represented.
Mills also noted that commercial banks had drastically reduced their purchases of French debt during the eurozone debt crisis to 10 percent in 2012.
However Mills said he did not see any signs of re-domestication of the French debt market.
France's stock of debt is still mostly held by foreigners 62.7 percent at the end of June although this figure has been declining for a year.
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