NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Washington (AFP) – The deadly Ebola epidemic could deal a $32 billion-plus blow to the West African economy over the next year if officials cannot get it under control, the World Bank warned Wednesday.

If efforts to halt its spread out of a three-country core — Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea — are not successful by December, the entire region faces a real threat of economic catastrophe, the Bank said in a new report.

“In broader regional terms, the economic impacts could be limited if immediate national and international responses succeed in containing the epidemic and mitigating aversion behavior,” it said.