Ebola: IMF releases $130m emergency fund

The IMF executive board approved the financing on an accelerated, emergency basis September 26 in order to help cover a substantial portion of a financing gap, provisionally estimated to total some $300 million, that has emerged from the humanitarian crisis.
The countries are grappling with the Ebola outbreak with fragile institutions and ill-equipped medical systems, and are facing substantial revenue shortfalls and additional spending needs to combat the outbreak.
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Saturday while briefing the press that already the money has hit the accounts of the countries, because a delay could pose a serious danger.
The financing arrangements amount to 25 percent of each country’s quota at the IMF. They are Guinea, $41.4 million, Liberia, $48.3 million and Sierra Leone, $39.8 million.