With more than 1,300 reported deaths from Ebola in West Africa, the
virus continues to be an urgent health crisis, but it is also having a
devastating impact on the economies of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra
Leone.
"The economy has been deflated by 30% because of Ebola," Sierra
Leone's Agriculture Minister Joseph Sam Sesay told the BBC.
He said President Ernest Bai Koroma revealed this staggering and
depressing news to ministers at a special cabinet meeting. "The
agricultural sector is the most impacted in terms of Ebola because the
majority of the people of Sierra Leone - about 66% - are farmers," he
said.
Twelve out of 13 districts in Sierra Leone are now affected by Ebola,
although the epicentres are in the Eastern Province near the borders
with Liberia and Guinea.
Road blocks manned by police and military are preventing the
movement of farmers and labourers as well as the supply of goods.
"We are definitely expecting a devastating effect not only on labour
availability and capacity but we are also talking about farms being
abandoned by people running away from the epicentres and going to
areas that don't have the disease," Mr Sesay added.
Many shops have been forced to close as part of quarantine
measures
Food shortages
However, the chief co-ordinator for the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), David McLachlan-Karr, thinks that the road blocks
are absolutely crucial to containing the outbreak.
"A robust response to quarantining epicentres of the disease is
absolutely necessary," he told the BBC. But he admits agriculture in
Sierra Leone has been brought to its knees.
"We are now coming into the planting season which means a lot of
agriculture is not happening, so down the line that will create food
shortages and pressures on food prices. We are starting to see a rise in
inflation and pressure on the national currency as well as a shortage of
foreign exchange," he said.
The UNDP has appealed for $18m (£11m) to bolster Sierra Leone's
health system while the World Food Programme says the total cost of
its emergency operations in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia is $70m.
In Guinea and Liberia the economic predictions may be less
catastrophic but they are still worrying. The World Bank said it was
expecting GDP growth in Guinea to fall from 4.5% to 3.5% .
Economic growth in Liberia has been revised down due to the
outbreak
The Liberian economy had been expected to grow by 5.9% this year but
the country's Finance Minister, Amara Konneh, said this was no longer
realistic due to a slowdown in the transport and services sectors and
the departure of foreign workers because of Ebola.
Mining impact
The world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal has seen work disrupted
on its iron ore mine expansion project in Yekepa in Liberia, after
contractors declared "force majeure" and moved people out of the
country.
Simandou, in the forests of eastern Guinea, is Africa's largest iron ore
mine and infrastructure project. Vale, the world's biggest iron ore
producer, was involved in Simandou until April. It evacuated six
international members of staff and put the rest of the workforce in the
area on leave.
Rio Tinto, the world's third largest mining company, which owns a
share in Simandou, has donated $100,000 to the World Health
Organization's work in the area and is also making sanitation
equipment available to local people there.
Steelmakers and miners have been hit by the outbreak
A smaller British company, London Mining, has moved out some its
non-essential expatriate staff from Sierra Leone, where mining has
accounted for much of the country's recent growth. According to the
International Monetary Fund, Sierra Leone's output grew by 20% last
year; excluding iron ore mining, it grew by 5.5%.
But like Rio Tinto, London Mining has also donated money towards
tackling the spread of Ebola, and educating local communities about
the virus.
Borders closed
In Sierra Leone, commercial banks have reduced their hours of
business by two hours to reduce contact with clients and the country's
tourism industry has taken a severe knock - some hotels are empty and
are laying off staff.
The closure of borders in West Africa and the suspension of flights are
also having a detrimental effect on trade, severely limiting the ability of
countries to export and import goods.
Recent examples are the closure of Cameroon's lengthy border with
Nigeria and the announcement by Kenya Airways that it is suspending
flights to and from Sierra Leone and Liberia.
The outbreak has caused a number of countries to close their
borders
All three West African nations are already poor countries, but the Ebola
outbreak could make them even poorer. Sierra Leone and Liberia have
both emerged from horrific civil wars and managed to rebuild their
economies.
Liberia has been trying to revive its mining sector which before the civil
war accounted for more than half its export earnings. But now there are
fears that all the good work that has been achieved since those
conflicts could be destroyed. There are also concerns that widespread
poverty could force people to resort to criminality.
'Fundamentals'
Meanwhile some international investors are nervously watching the
Ebola outbreak unfold. Dianna Games, chief executive of
Johannesburg-based consultants Africa@Work, says fears about the
virus could damage Africa's economic revival of recent years.
"Ebola has made a dent in the Africa Rising narrative," she told the
BBC. "The stereotypes of Africa as a place of poverty and disease have
started to re-emerge again."
She thinks Nigeria is the only affected country that has the health
system and infrastructure to deal with Ebola. At the moment there have
only been 12 confirmed cases, all of which were linked to the death of
one man from Liberia in July.
In the long run, Ms Games believes history will view the 2014 Ebola
outbreak as a temporary blip rather than a permanent U-turn in the
continent's fortunes.
"The fundamentals pushing this Africa Renaissance are still there," she
said.
virus continues to be an urgent health crisis, but it is also having a
devastating impact on the economies of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra
Leone.
"The economy has been deflated by 30% because of Ebola," Sierra
Leone's Agriculture Minister Joseph Sam Sesay told the BBC.
He said President Ernest Bai Koroma revealed this staggering and
depressing news to ministers at a special cabinet meeting. "The
agricultural sector is the most impacted in terms of Ebola because the
majority of the people of Sierra Leone - about 66% - are farmers," he
said.
Twelve out of 13 districts in Sierra Leone are now affected by Ebola,
although the epicentres are in the Eastern Province near the borders
with Liberia and Guinea.
Road blocks manned by police and military are preventing the
movement of farmers and labourers as well as the supply of goods.
"We are definitely expecting a devastating effect not only on labour
availability and capacity but we are also talking about farms being
abandoned by people running away from the epicentres and going to
areas that don't have the disease," Mr Sesay added.
Many shops have been forced to close as part of quarantine
measures
Food shortages
However, the chief co-ordinator for the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), David McLachlan-Karr, thinks that the road blocks
are absolutely crucial to containing the outbreak.
"A robust response to quarantining epicentres of the disease is
absolutely necessary," he told the BBC. But he admits agriculture in
Sierra Leone has been brought to its knees.
"We are now coming into the planting season which means a lot of
agriculture is not happening, so down the line that will create food
shortages and pressures on food prices. We are starting to see a rise in
inflation and pressure on the national currency as well as a shortage of
foreign exchange," he said.
The UNDP has appealed for $18m (£11m) to bolster Sierra Leone's
health system while the World Food Programme says the total cost of
its emergency operations in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia is $70m.
In Guinea and Liberia the economic predictions may be less
catastrophic but they are still worrying. The World Bank said it was
expecting GDP growth in Guinea to fall from 4.5% to 3.5% .
Economic growth in Liberia has been revised down due to the
outbreak
The Liberian economy had been expected to grow by 5.9% this year but
the country's Finance Minister, Amara Konneh, said this was no longer
realistic due to a slowdown in the transport and services sectors and
the departure of foreign workers because of Ebola.
Mining impact
The world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal has seen work disrupted
on its iron ore mine expansion project in Yekepa in Liberia, after
contractors declared "force majeure" and moved people out of the
country.
Simandou, in the forests of eastern Guinea, is Africa's largest iron ore
mine and infrastructure project. Vale, the world's biggest iron ore
producer, was involved in Simandou until April. It evacuated six
international members of staff and put the rest of the workforce in the
area on leave.
Rio Tinto, the world's third largest mining company, which owns a
share in Simandou, has donated $100,000 to the World Health
Organization's work in the area and is also making sanitation
equipment available to local people there.
Steelmakers and miners have been hit by the outbreak
A smaller British company, London Mining, has moved out some its
non-essential expatriate staff from Sierra Leone, where mining has
accounted for much of the country's recent growth. According to the
International Monetary Fund, Sierra Leone's output grew by 20% last
year; excluding iron ore mining, it grew by 5.5%.
But like Rio Tinto, London Mining has also donated money towards
tackling the spread of Ebola, and educating local communities about
the virus.
Borders closed
In Sierra Leone, commercial banks have reduced their hours of
business by two hours to reduce contact with clients and the country's
tourism industry has taken a severe knock - some hotels are empty and
are laying off staff.
The closure of borders in West Africa and the suspension of flights are
also having a detrimental effect on trade, severely limiting the ability of
countries to export and import goods.
Recent examples are the closure of Cameroon's lengthy border with
Nigeria and the announcement by Kenya Airways that it is suspending
flights to and from Sierra Leone and Liberia.
The outbreak has caused a number of countries to close their
borders
All three West African nations are already poor countries, but the Ebola
outbreak could make them even poorer. Sierra Leone and Liberia have
both emerged from horrific civil wars and managed to rebuild their
economies.
Liberia has been trying to revive its mining sector which before the civil
war accounted for more than half its export earnings. But now there are
fears that all the good work that has been achieved since those
conflicts could be destroyed. There are also concerns that widespread
poverty could force people to resort to criminality.
'Fundamentals'
Meanwhile some international investors are nervously watching the
Ebola outbreak unfold. Dianna Games, chief executive of
Johannesburg-based consultants Africa@Work, says fears about the
virus could damage Africa's economic revival of recent years.
"Ebola has made a dent in the Africa Rising narrative," she told the
BBC. "The stereotypes of Africa as a place of poverty and disease have
started to re-emerge again."
She thinks Nigeria is the only affected country that has the health
system and infrastructure to deal with Ebola. At the moment there have
only been 12 confirmed cases, all of which were linked to the death of
one man from Liberia in July.
In the long run, Ms Games believes history will view the 2014 Ebola
outbreak as a temporary blip rather than a permanent U-turn in the
continent's fortunes.
"The fundamentals pushing this Africa Renaissance are still there," she
said.
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