A new World Bank private sector initiative announced Wednesday will provide at least 450 million US dollars in commercial financing to the three West African countries hardest hit by Ebola to promote trade, investment and employment.
The International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank Group, announced that the package will include 250 million US dollars in rapid response projects and at least 200 million US dollars in investment projects. These would be for supporting the economic recovery of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea after the Ebola outbreak is controlled.
The announcement coincides with the UN Development Program’s release of a study on the socio-economic impact of the outbreak, which found that the governments of the three countries needed 328 million US dollars to be able to function at pre-crisis levels.
The UNDP study found that government expenses have risen about 30 percent in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea owing to Ebola, and fiscal deficits are rising. Since the beginning of the crisis, Liberia and Sierra Leone sacrificed 20 million US dollars, 16 million US dollars worth of infrastructure developments respectively.