The majority of respondents, in an email and street poll conducted jointly by the Business Times (BT) and the Research Consultancy Bureau (RCB) this week, gave a mixed rating on the government’s performance in 2011.
| Poll |
What is in store for Sri Lanka this year? This is what the Business Times (BT) and its polls’ partner Research Consultancy Bureau (RCB) ventured to find out from our readers (email responses) and those on the street and given here are the findings. As we wish our readers a happy, prosperous, healthy and peaceful New Year, there are many more polls in store in 2012 from the BT-RCB combine on issues of national, economic and social interest. We value your contribution in these polls and look
forward to the same cooperation in the future – Business Editor |
Asked to rate the government’s performance on a scale of 1-to-10, nearly 70 % of those who responded on email gave a rating of 5 and below. In the street poll conducted by RCB in a Colombo suburb, 63 % rated the performance at 5 and below. There was no one to give a 10 (excellent) scorecard while very few gave a rating between 6-to-9.
This week’s poll, conducted amongst a total of close to 800 respondents in both the email and street category, sought to find the views of Sri Lankans on the economy, cost of living, stock market, human rights, how the government fared and the UNP leadership crisis. The poll covered a range of individuals – office workers, housewives, professionals, business executives, civil society activists, CEOs and heads of companies.
Views of the respondents were also mixed when analyzing the results of the email poll and the street poll.
Asked whether the economy grew in 2011, 67 % (email respondents) said ‘Yes’. Among street respondents, 42 % were ‘Undecided’, 32 % said ‘No’ and 26 % said ‘Yes’.
Will the stock markets settle down in 2012? 45 % of email respondents said ‘No’ and 26 % said ‘Yes”. Among street respondents, it was 45 % (No) and 32 % (Undecided).
On prospects of the cost of living coming down this year, 93 % (email) said ‘No’ while 51 % (street) said ‘No’.
On the UNP leadership crisis being resolved, 45 % of those in the street poll said ‘No’ and 23 % said ‘Yes’ while the majority (69 %) among email respondents said ‘No’.
On whether the human rights issues will be resolved (with the West), 71 % email respondents said ‘No’ while 49 % street respondents were ‘Undecided” and only 19 % said ‘Yes’.
Among the concerns raised by respondents were accuracy of economic growth rates and lack of reforms. “Growth rates are high but from where is this growth coming?” asked one respondent.
On the positive side, another respondent said a lot of good work is done by the government but this has gone unnoticed due to corruption, waste, bribery, intimidation and other negatives that are taking place with government sponsorship.
“A weak opposition and lack of interest by the masses on governance has provided the government with an advantage to carry on regardless. The overall performance during the year 2011 could be classified as average,” she said, adding that, “if the government does not get its act together and address the key issues, 2012 will become a decisive year.” |
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