Majority back ‘Jamaicanising’ state entities – poll

A large majority per cent of Jamaicans agree with the policy of the Andrew Holness administration of allowing citizens to own stocks in state assets by listing them on the local exchange, a recent poll has shown.

Pollster Don Anderson interviewed 1,114 people between March 2 and March 4.

The poll was commissioned by Growth and Opportunity Trust Limited, whose governing board members are Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke and Joan Peart.

It showed that 84.4 per cent were in agreement with the policy direction, while 9.5 per cent were not. Another 6.1 per cent indicated that they were unsure.

In the same poll, 87 per cent of Jamaicans indicated that they supported the Government’s move “to give Jamaicans an opportunity to own TransJamaican Highway”.

Almost seven per cent indicated that they were not in agreement with the move while six per cent were unsure.

Last May, the Government-owned Wigton Windfarm Limited was listed on the stock exchange following an initial public offer that generated some $14 billion.

That venture netted more than 11,000 new investors on the market.

The National Road Operating Constructing Company has also floated 10 billion shares in TransJamaican, valuing $14 billion.

TransJamaican Highway was previously owned by French contractors Bouygues Travaux Publics, Vinci Construction, IFC, and Proparco, dating back to 2001.

The Government of Jamaica bought 100 per cent of the shares, via a short-term loan, in December 2019.

Commenting on the findings, Minister of Finance and Public Service Dr Nigel Clarke said: “A tremendous amount of work has gone into the Government’s policy of broadening the ownership base of the Jamaican economy by listing state assets on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, allocating on a bottom-up basis to give preference to small investors, and reserving large amounts of the shares for public-sector employees. It is gratifying to see that the public supports this in such a significant way.”

Holness has signalled that the Government is also looking into selling shares in the Jamaica Public Service Company and the Jamaica Mortgage Bank.