The proposed Barbados Optional Savings Scheme (BOSS) Plus bonds investment will be a tough sell for Government given the bitter taste still left in the mouths of investors who had to take a haircut during the 2018 debt restructuring.This assessment has come from noted economist Carlos Forte, who described the move by Government to extend the BOSS bonds investment scheme to the wider population, in an effort to reportedly raise $200 million, as marketing.“BOSS Plus or extending the BOSS programme to the general public is really a marketing frame and I have no quarrels with that. The issue here is that since the restructuring of the debt, the Government has been experiencing some challenges securing local debt – bonds, debentures, treasury bills,” said Forte.He explained that while the BOSS programme seemed to have had some measure of success, “in the sense that when public servants weren’t willing to hold, private persons bought those bonds”, the overall appetite for Government debt was still “quite low”.
