The rapidly spreading epidemic is doing more harm than raising the death toll within West Africa, as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revealed on Thursday that economic growth in Liberia and Sierra Leone – two worst hit Ebola nations – could drop by almost 3.5 percent.
According to Bill Murray, an IMF spokesman, the recent outbreak of Ebola has affected key sectors in Liberia and Sierra Leone, further stalling the slow-growing economies.
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This crisis could engender financing gaps for the fiscal and external accounts of these two countries, and trigger higher inflation in these two countries, Murray said. Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea each need around $130 million to cover financial gap.
Murray’s assertion followed a similar submission made by Liberia’s Finance Minister, Amara Konneh, who announced that the country has entered a recession because of the deadly Ebola outbreak which has downed agriculture, mining and other business growth in the West African nation.
Konneh said the outbreak is threatening the country’s post-civil war recovery as the state revenue continues to see a steady slump while spending, poured into curbing the disease, has increased.
The IMF has also cut down growth forecast for Liberia to 2.5 percent, from a promising 5.9 percent estimate.
Economic outlook of Sierra Leone and Guinea – two other West African nations badly hit by the disease – have also been slashed by 3.3 percent and 1.1 percent respectively.
The monetary arm of the World Bank had previously predicted an 11.3 percent growth for Sierra Leone and 3.5 percent for Guinea.
The recent Ebola outbreak is the worst on record; killing approximately 2,300 people across Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria since it was first reported in December, 2013. (VENTURES AFRICA)
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