Counting The Cost of Ebola

Ebola is no longer a looming threat in our neck of the woods. It is now an eminent menace that is ravaging our societies and livelihood. Mali's confirmation of new cases should put us on a heightened alert that this menace is still a threat to our existence. I hope our regional leaders can work on opening transnational corridors to spur business and also offer tax relief to affected businesses particularly local airlines and hospitality businesses (hotels in particular).

Some will say that counting the economic cost of Ebola in the West African sub region is premature but I will beg to differ. We need to establish the projected cost of this epidemic to the economies of the countries affected. I think the Economic Community of West African States should convene a donor round table conference to raise financial support and partial debt cancellation for the entire region. EBOLA will undoubtedly cause budget deficits in the West African region for the unexpected expenditure associated with combating the disease and the loss of revenue particularly in tourism and tax receipts. Productive sectors (tourism, agriculture and fisheries) will be impacted negatively. Projected growth figures will be revised downwards and programs curtailed to mobilize revenue for Ebola prevention and treatment. Urgent financial relief is needed to smoothen out budgetary operations within the ECOWAS zone. Let the medical practitioners combat the menace in the front lines and the public finance practitioners with the support of the political elite mobilize revenue to sustain the battle against EBOLA and also provide respite to the affected communities. We have to pave the way for a soft landing from an unexpected anomaly that will undoubtedly leave a dent on our budgetary operations. There will be a dent in our Balance of Payment (BOP) statistics. Am sure we will revise our projected GDP growth downwards as a sub region. Economic activities such as petroleum exploration will be spared from the wrath of this crisis. The threat of EBOLA  to our existence is mostly economical and we should harness our efforts to purge the stereotype that is causing grave economic loss to our livelihoods. Tourism is one of the growth drivers of our economy and it is currently on a doldrum thanks to the message and hysteria being pumped on the airwaves by the syndicated Western media outlets. There is an urgent need for us to create our alternative information dissemination medium so as to tell our side of the story. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o once said that the "tale of the hunt will always be glorified so long as the hunted is not there to tell his side of the story". An #EBOLAFREEGAMBIA   is a collective interest of all and sundry. Kudos to the people behind #EBOLAFREEGAMBIA