More than 1,900 people have died from Ebola in the four affected west African countries, but many more will suffer the economic consequences. The tiny post-conflict country has been growing at upwards of 8% over the last couple of years, but won't expect anything like that kind of luck now. Finance minister Amara Konneh says that's mostly because of damage done to mining, agriculture and service industries, as investors evacuate foreign workers, borders close, and international flights are suspended. Breadbasket regions are under quarantine, making agricultural trade impossible. Sime Darby, the world's largest listed producer of oil palm, is slowing production and Sifca Group, an Ivory Coast-based agribusiness, has halted rubber exports. Mr Konneh expects iron ore exports to fall in 2015 because investors like China Union and ArcelorMittal are scaling down their operations and putting expansion plans on hold. .
The finance ministry is bracing itself for up to $30m in lost revenues; a "significant" amount, it says, in the context of its meagre budget. Add to that the high cost of fighting the virus, and the country will run up a big fiscal deficit, even in light of international assistance. The government is putting in place fiscal austerity measures to compensate for that, including suspending all official foreign travel. But it may still may have to turn to the IMF for additional help.
Ebola's economic impact has become so severe that the IMF is now warning that stricken countries could need emergency assistance. Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have all been burning holes in their finances trying to curb the outbreak, and a dramatic downturn in trade-specifically timber and rubber-will compound those troubles.
Ebola - the reality and the hysteria over it - is having a serious economic impact on Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, three nations already at the bottom of global economic and social indicators.
