Ebola Drains Budgets as Bills Fund Virus Fight: Africa Credit

The worst-ever Ebola outbreak is straining the finances of affected governments, with Sierra Leone using Treasury Bills to fund the fight against the virus as mining companies halt operations to protect workers.

Emergency aid of as much as $260 million is being prepared by the World Bank and the African Development Bank to limit the economic fallout of the virus on Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, the lenders said this month. In the latest outbreak in four West African nations, Ebola has killed at least 1,229 people, or about 55 percent of those infected with the disease, for which there is no cure, the World Health Organization said in an e-mailed statement today.