Helping the Burundian hotel and restaurant sectors to recover

The current unrest in Burundi has badly affected the hotel and night-life industries (here and here in French, and here and here in English).  What can be done to help them?  A survey from last year found that 41 percent of hotels and restaurants thought that tax rates were the biggest obstacle to their operation.  Although reducing tax rates may seem to be an attractive way of protecting struggling businesses, profits are likely to be low and so companies will not pay much income tax anyway.  However, a further 18 percent of hotels and restaurants thought that tax administration was their biggest problem.  A temporary suspension of the more administratively burdensome tax regulations may help companies to remain in operation at this difficult time.