--- title: World Bank: Ebola's Economic Impact Could Be 'Catastrophic' description: The economic impact of Ebola could grow eight-fold if the virus continues to spread in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. canonical: https://time.com/3394147/ebola-world-bank/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-17T18:47:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:14:52.122Z article:section: Health og:title: World Bank: Ebola's Economic Impact Could Be 'Catastrophic' og:description: The economic impact of Ebola could grow eight-fold if the virus continues to spread in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. og:url: https://time.com/3394147/ebola-world-bank/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt46e3175df25df84e/6986a3d4f983e7a1dd04fb03/ebola7.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: The West African country of Liberia is crippled by a recent outbreak of the Ebola virus. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: World Bank: Ebola's Economic Impact Could Be 'Catastrophic' twitter:description: The economic impact of Ebola could grow eight-fold if the virus continues to spread in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt46e3175df25df84e/6986a3d4f983e7a1dd04fb03/ebola7.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # World Bank: Ebola's Economic Impact Could Be 'Catastrophic' > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=80b01726-0587-4a1b-b8ee-6ff95c2c0bb2&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Sep 17, 2014 6:47 PM UTC  People rush to line up at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare seeking work from the anticipated Ebola related jobs that will be coming to Liberia on Tuesday September 16, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia. People rush to line up at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare seeking work from the anticipated Ebola related jobs that will be coming to Liberia on Tuesday September 16, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia. The Washington Post/Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Sep 17, 2014 6:47 PM UTC The economic impact of Ebola could grow eight-fold if the virus continues to spread significantly in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, the World Bank [said](http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2014/09/17/ebola-economic-impact-serious-catastrophic-swift-response-countries-international-community-world-bank) Wednesday, with the disease having a potentially “catastrophic” impact on the three West African countries’ already fragile economies. “The primary cost of this tragic outbreak is in human lives and suffering, which has already been terribly difficult to bear,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim in a statement. “But our findings make clear that the sooner we get an adequate containment response and decrease the level of fear and uncertainty, the faster we can blunt Ebola’s economic impact.” In its report, the organization said Ebola could have up to an $809 million impact on the three countries’ economies by the end of next year, depending on how the virus is managed. Much of the economic cost of the disease stems from what the World Bank calls “aversion behaviors,” including the tendency for people to drop out of the labor force as they seek refuge fro To mitigate Ebola’s costs, the World Bank calls for increased foreign aid to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, as well as additional screening for and treatment of the disease. “External financing is clearly needed in the three core countries, and the impact estimates suggest that containment and mitigation expenditures as high as several billion dollars would be cost-effective if they successfully avert the worse scenario,” the World Bank’s report reads. Earlier this week, U.S. President Barack Obama [announced](http://time.com/3387646/obama-on-ebola-the-world-is-looking-to-us/) the U.S. is deploying 3,000 U.S. military forces and over $500 million in defense spending to West Africa to fight the Ebola outbreak. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3394147/ebola-world-bank/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3394147/ebola-world-bank/"},"headline":"World Bank: Ebola's Economic Impact Could Be 'Catastrophic'","datePublished":"2014-09-17T18:47:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:14:52.122Z","description":"The group calculated economic losses based on two Ebola scenarios","url":"https://time.com/3394147/ebola-world-bank/","keywords":["ebola","Sierra Leone","Guinea","Liberia","Ebola outbreak","world bank"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt46e3175df25df84e/6986a3d4f983e7a1dd04fb03/ebola7.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt46e3175df25df84e/6986a3d4f983e7a1dd04fb03/ebola7.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The West African country of Liberia is crippled by a recent outbreak of the Ebola virus.","caption":"The West African country of Liberia is crippled by a recent outbreak of the Ebola virus.","creditText":"The Washington Post/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/ebola/","name":"ebola"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3394147/ebola-world-bank/","name":"World Bank: Ebola's Economic Impact Could Be 'Catastrophic'"}}]}] ```