West Africa: Ebola to injure fiscus, growth

THE WORST outbreak of Ebola on record might inflict “broad” economic damage on Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Moody’s Investors Service said yesterday. Commercial and transport disruptions that would probably last for at least the next month, along with increased health expenditure, might put pressure on budgets, jeopardising the nations’ economic growth, Matt Robinson, a senior credit officer at Moody’s, wrote in a report. “ The outbreak risks having a direct financial effect on government budgets via increased health expenditures that could be significant, and an indirect effect arising from an Ebola-induced economic slowdown on government revenue generation in a region where budgets are already hindered by low tax collection.” – Bloomberg