INVESTMENT levels have not picked up despite the attractive government incentives, Prof Biman Prasad claims.
"The government needs to revisit some of its economic incentives and see why some of them are not working and why private investors are not responding to those incentives," Prof Prasad said while speaking at the Fiji Fuel Retailers Association annual general meeting on Wednesday.
Prof Prasad said in the past five years, the government came up with some innovative incentives schemes to attract foreign investment.
However, the investment level has not gone up because there was a lack of confidence in the economy. "The 2012 Budget in my view was bold but it is fraught with serious risks," he said.
"The reduction in income tax and company tax was intended to spur spending and investment.
"However, both spending and investment require confidence.
"Without the expectation that the future will be better, both consumers and investors will not act," he said. Attorney-General and Trade and Investment Minister, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said if Prof Prasad understood the commercial world, tax incentives would take at least six months before they would "kick in".
For example, he said, the introduction of the audio visual tax rebate of 47 per cent introduced last year started to reap results this year with a "flurry" of movie makers.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said there were also other factors that affected our economy such as the global financial crisis.
The A-G said the government had once approached Prof Prasad to assist in the formulation of the national budget but he did not take up the offer.