Africa Should Remove Some Tax Breaks for Investors, IMF Says

The International Monetary Fund said sub-Saharan African nations should focus on improving their investment climates, while moving away from offering tax breaks that result in lost government revenue.

“The importance of these incentives is much exaggerated in respect to what they actually yield,” Carlo Cottarelli, the fund’s director of fiscal affairs, said today in an interview in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. “Creating a good business environment, fighting corruption, these are more effective at attracting investment than incentives.”