By Evelyn T. Kpadeh
MONROVIA
Liberia's economy is taking a downturn as the West African country struggles against an outbreak of Ebola, which has forced it to shut its borders.
Commodity prices and transport fees have risen to dizzying heights amid a government failure to reign in prices.
The price of rice, a staple foodstuff, has surged to $20 per 25 kilograms – this in a country where almost 70 percent of the population lives on less than $1 a day.
Moneyed Liberians, fearing more price hikes were around the corner, could be seen hoarding the precious commodity.
"I came to buy ten bags of rice because we don't know whether the price will increase because of the closure of the borders," Monrovia resident James Gbarkoyah told Anadolu Agency.
He added that Liberians would die of hunger – not Ebola – if the border closure continued another two months.
Amelia Smith, another Monrovia resident and a mother of six, said: "It's true that Ebola is in Liberia; but when all the rice in the stores comes to an end and the poor cannot afford to buy half a bag for 2,000 Liberian dollars, Liberians will die of starvation."
Smith wants the government to import more rice to bring down local prices.
She and her fellow Liberians complain that life is becoming difficult, with few goods coming in from neighboring countries and commodity prices continuing to skyrocket – forcing locals to buy locally available goods at any price.
Ebola, a contagious disease for which there is no known treatment or cure, has claimed 1,552 lives in West Africa since the regional outbreak began in January.
Until now, most deaths have been registered in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. Six Ebola fatalities have also been confirmed in Nigeria.
The deadly tropical fever, which first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, can be transmitted to humans from wild animals.
It also reportedly spreads through contact with the body fluids of infected persons or of those who have died of the disease.
-Transport hit-
The Ebola outbreak has hit the local transport sector especially hard, leading to rising transport fees countrywide.
In a bid to reduce Ebola transmission, the Transport Ministry has asked taxi drivers to admit four passengers only – three in back and one in front – instead of the usual five.
Taxi and bus drivers, however, complain they no longer earn enough money amid decreasing passenger numbers and rising fares.
"Finding a client is not easy now," cabbie Samuel Mohamed told AA. "We have stopped making money since the government asked us to admit three persons only."
Mohamed said he used to earn 3,000 Liberian dollars (roughly $36) a day, lamenting the difficulty of making that amount now.
Finance Minister Amara Konneh recently told Liberia's Senate that the Ebola outbreak had impacted economic performance in both the public and private sectors.
He noted that state-run agencies had been working with skeleton staffs after non-essential employees were asked to stay home.
The minister added that the food production, mining, hospitality and transport sectors had all slowed down as well, as a result of the crisis.
Konneh said some companies were scaling back their operations in Liberia, while many investors – fearing the deadly virus – were leaving the country.
He noted that Roberts International Airport, one of Liberia's major revenue earners, was currently losing some $1.3 million per month due to the suspension by many international carriers of flights to and from the country.
The finance minister added that revenue projections for the first half of the 2014/15 fiscal year, previously projected at $243.8 million, was now expected to come in at a mere $206.7 million.
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