A study complied by three of the UK's leading universities has found that the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) policies added to the Ebola crisis in Africa. Sierra Leone and Guinea both made loan repayments to the IMF in 2014, in-spite of the pandemic.
Cambridge University sociology professor, Alexander Kentikelenis contributed to the report - he commented: "Policies advocated by the IMF have contributed to under-funded, insufficiently staffed, and poorly prepared health systems in the countries with Ebola outbreaks."
The IMF has rejected the study's conclusions, a spokesperson said: "Such claims are based on a misunderstanding, and, in some cases, a misrepresentation, of IMF policies."
In mid-December a UN commission joined anti-poverty groups in calling on the IMF to cancel the debts of West African countries that have been hit by Ebola. Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have been suffering new economic problems in the wake of the outbreak.
The United States, the Washiongton DC based institution's largest shareholder, has also called on the IMF to wipe out close to 20 percent of the $480m owed by the three nations. US Treasury Secretary, Jacob Lew said that he would welcome the move, as it would free resources for the countries to begin to restart economic activity in the region.
The IMF has committed to providing $300m to help fight Ebloa. The meeting of the Group of 20 in Australia in mid-November called on the IMF to include debt cancellation as part of this pledge.
An announcement is expected from the financial institution in January. An IMF spokesperson told Agence France-Presse: "Staff are looking at further options to provide support to the Ebola-hit countries, through reform of an existing facility."
There is a precedent for the IMF making special arrangements for countries that have been hit by natural disasters. In 2010 the IMF wrote-off $268 million in debt that the Haitian government owed in the wake of the earthquake that hit the country.
There are doubts over whether the Ebola crisis is eligible to trigger similar concessions.
