However, stakeholders also point to the following gaps in existing frameworks that have the potential to derail efforts to unleash the full potential of ICT, innovation and E-Government to contribute to the sustainable development of Belize: 1. A persistent silo culture in Government that empowers ministries, departments, and statutory corporations to be predominantly inwardly focussed; 2. ‘Ad hoc activities’ in individual ministries and departments that have no apparent linkages to an overall national plan for economic development; 3. High levels of fragmentation in respect of communications, coordination, collaboration, consumption, planning, and implementation in Government that result in high costs, decreased efficiency, and general wastage; 4. Marked absence of mechanisms that transcend politics to support continuity in public sector planning and implementation, resulting in erratic national development; 5. Failure to harness technological innovation, particularly ICT, to improve the efficiency of existing factorbased economic sectors like forestry, fishing, agriculture, oil and gas; in the secondary sector, energy leading to sub-optimal production and value output in these sectors; 6. A US$547.5M super-bond concluded by Belize in 2013 that limits the pace, size and direction of national development initiatives at many levels; 7. Prohibitively high taxation, which inhibits entrepreneurship and innovation, and encourages the development of a parallel economy; 8. Most sparse population in Central America (22,800 sq. km., people: 324,060 > ½ living in rural areas; almost ½ under 18 years old) has implications for policy planning, Government revenues and economic growth; 9. Major national unemployment and under-employment and fluid, often undocumented, flows of people from Central America, with serious implications for policy planning and economic development; 10. Lack of ubiquitous infrastructure (telecommunications, electricity, water, roads) impedes public sector management, investment and economic growth; 11. Lack of legislation and the existence of weak regulatory frameworks to guide development of ICT-related sectors, including E-Government and e-commerce, have a dampening effect on public sector efficiency and productivity, business, entrepreneurship and innovation; 12. Lack of effective competition and regulation in the telecommunications and ICT sectors, resulting in high access costs and reduced performance, making the Internet inaccessible and unaffordable to many; 13. Deficiencies in education at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels, resulting in weak skills and human capacity in the public and private sectors, slowing economic expansion. 36