Liberian Finance Minister Just Annouced Ebola Has Sent Liberia Into a Recesion

Article Summary

1. Liberia Finance Minister has entered a recession and the government needs to curb spending as the world’s deadliest Ebola outbreak in West Africa has hampered agriculture and business.
2. The economy has fallen into “recession because of the deadly Ebola virus disease”
3. The International Monetary Fund cut its expansion forecast for Liberia’s economy to 2.5 percent this year from a previous estimate of 5.9 percent. The other West African nations at the center of the outbreak also had their outlooks reduced. Sierra Leone was cut to 8 percent from 11.3 percent and Guinea to 2.4 percent from 3.5 percent, said Dieng.
4. Liberia has been the worst hit by the Ebola outbreak, recording 1,224 of the 2,288 deaths since the first case in December, according to the World Health Organization. Liberia’s Ministry of Health puts the country’s death toll at 1,263. There’s also been eight deaths in Nigeria, the WHO says.
5. The government will probably fail to meet revenue projections outlined in a draft budget for the 2014-15 fiscal year that’s awaiting approval.

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To contact the reporter on this story: Elise Zoker in Johannesburg at ezoker@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net Sarah McGregor, Jacqueline Mackenzie, John Bowker