Ebola-hit nations want $6bn aid, debts cancelled

The Ebola-stricken nations of West Africa are asking international donors to cancel their debts and give them 6 billion dollars over two years to rebuild their economies, devastated by the deadly disease.

Sierra Leone President, Ernest Bai Koroma, said on Friday in Washington that the waver and the financial assistance were become imperative.

"Our social services are ruined; our economies have halted; we need a real marshall plan to take us out of the woods," he said.

The leaders of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia will unveil their regional reconstruction programme at a meeting on Friday with the heads of the World Bank, the United Nations and International Monetary Fund.

Koroma said the time has come for World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, to deliver on his promise last year of regional reconstruction on the scale of the marshall plan that rebuilt Europe after World War II.

“The three nations also need about 4 billion dollars in debt forgiveness over and above the relief already provided, he said.

"If that debt is cancelled and support is provided to our regional programme it will take us a long way forward in our transformation agenda," he said.

He recalled that the international community had already pledged 5.6 billion dollars to tackle Ebola and the damage it has done.

Koroma said the social and economic toll was immense as the healthcare systems have collapsed, schools closed, flights were cancelled, workers left and unemployment has soared.

He said the economic output for Sierra Leone was forecast to contract 13 per cent, 1.4 per cent in Liberia and growth to stall in Guinea.

He said the global collapse in commodity prices has ruined their export sectors worldwide, including in the Ebola-hit nations.

He said food shortage in the affected countries was worsening as the disease cut huge swathes through families and villages, adding that farmers were unable to tend their crops.

Koroma said he was concerned about the planting season for rice, a staple for his country, adding that farmers urgently needed seedlings, equipment and fertiliser within the next few weeks.

"This is very critical. We have to move quickly and cut through the bureaucracy,’’ he said.

Koroma said now that the health crisis was ebbing, a regional reconstruction plan led by the World Bank and supported by bilateral and multilateral donors was crucial to putting the three countries' economies onto a secure path.