IMF offers debt relief to Ebola-hit African states
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced plans to provide the three worst Ebola-hit West African countries with USD 100 million in debt relief.
On Thursday, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the organization aims to form a new Catastrophe Containment Relief Trust which will supply Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea with USD 100 million in debt relief.
“With this initiative, the IMF becomes the first multilateral institution to provide relief to these three countries,” Lagarde said, adding, “I’m calling on official bilateral creditors … to provide additional flow debt relief to the three Ebola-affected countries.”
The international lender will also grant the three countries USD 160 million in concessional loans in a bid to help them tackle the economic and social ramifications of the deadly virus, Lagarde added.
The Ebola epidemic has so far claimed the lives of over 8,921 people all around the world, while more than 22,334 people have been infected, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its latest update on February 2.
Ebola is a form of hemorrhagic fever whose symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding. The virus spreads through direct contact with infected blood, feces or sweat. It can also spread through sexual contact or the unprotected handling of contaminated corpses. There is currently no known cure for Ebola.
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