Pollster Don Anderson
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Don Anderson
There is low confidence in the ability of the government and Bank of Jamaica to manage the foreign exchange market based on the findings of the latest RJRGLEANER/Don Anderson poll.
Mr. Anderson said when questioned about the issue, more people said they were not confident than those who said they were.
"This is something that is worrying because not only is just a third of the persons we interviewed (that were) confident of the approaches by government by Bank of Jamaica, but we had another 43 per cent who said they were not confident in the way in which government or the Bank of Jamaica was handling the foreign exchange market. That's some concern," he pointed out.
Twelve per cent of respondents said they did not know while 13 per cent were not sure.
The poll was conducted between February 8 and 18 among 1,038 people islandwide.
Drastic fluctuations in the value of the Jamaican dollar against the US dollar have led to concerns about the management of the foreign exchange market.
In November last year, the exchange rate hit a high of J$142 to US$1, then fell to J$132 to US$1 by the end of the year.
However, it was again at J$142 to US$1 by February 6.
It ended trading Thursday at J$138.64 to US$1.
Growth in tourism
Even as Jamaica braces for the possible fallout in tourism as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, most Jamaicans have acknowledged that they have been benefiting from growth in the sector.
Tourism has been registering an annual growth of more than four per cent.
A little more than half of the respondents to the latest RJRGLEANER/Don Anderson poll say Jamaicans have been profiting.
Mr. Anderson reported that 51 per cent of Jamaicans felt that there is growth in tourism that people are benefiting from, while 36 per cent did not believe that believe Jamaica on a whole was benefiting from the growth in the sector.
Respondents were more so divided on whether Jamaicans are benefiting from growth in tourism through Airbnbs.
Mr. Anderson said there was a clear split in the view of the respondents as 41 per cent felt that ordinary Jamaicans were benefiting from Airbnbs while another 41 per cent did not think so.
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