Economic Indicators: How people feel about Superbond

The ‘Superbond’ has been much on the minds of Belizeans. This issue has been heightened by the recent missed coupon payment which matured on August twentieth of this year and is now due on Wednesday because of a one month grace period.  The aftershocks of such and the Governments release of the three bond restructuring scenarios carried backlash from bondholders and negative reactions on the terms which were perceived as worse than expected. Payment or non-payment of the bond carries a heavy burden on Belizean taxpayers so the Great Belize Research Center executed an independent and scientific study to measure peoples’ perception on the ‘Superbond’.  A ‘seven point’ instrument was created which measures public opinion on debt (Superbond), spending and taxes. A random sample of three hundred participants was selected countrywide and both the instrument and sample were tested for reliability and validity. The results are measured at a confidence interval of ninety-five percent or within a margin of error of plus or minus five percent.

Seven key questions were asked. Are you confident and trust in the government handling of the debt/Superbond issue? The majority, sixty-four point seven percent, said they are not confident or trust the government in the handling of the debt/Superbond issue. The second question is: would you be more confident and trusting in the opposition handling the debt/Superbond issue? The majority, seventy-two percent said they would not be more confident or trust in the opposition handling of the debt/Superbond issue. On the question of whether you favor the government not paying its debt obligations/Superbond payment, the majority, seventy-four point three percent, said they favor the government paying its debt obligations/super bond payment. Another question dealt with how important it is to reduce the national debt. The answer is that eighty-five point seven percent believe it is very important to reduce the national debt. And should the government have a spending limit that prevents it from spending more than it takes?  Eighty-four point seven percent responded that the government should have a spending limit that prevents it from spending more than it takes. Persons were also polled on options to reduce the debt? Seventy point three percent responded that the option which comes closest to their view about the best way to reduce the debt is ‘reducing spending/maintaining current level of taxes. what if any programs should the government spend less on? Fifty-five percent responded that the programs which the government should spend less on is contract employees.