Ebola Threatens to Hobble Three Countries, $13 Billion in GDP

Sandi Sesay was promised three months’ pay by his boss to stop coming to work. In fact, most of Sesay’s colleagues at the Marampa iron-ore mine in Sierra Leone were offered much the same deal. The reason: to prevent the spread of Ebola. Two weeks later, Sesay, 29, a driver, says he has yet to see any of the money from his employer, Dawnus Construction, a contractor at the mine. “I am taking care of my mother, my sisters, and my wife and three children,” he says at a gas station near his home. “How am I going to cope?”

Sesay’s and Sierra Leone’s prospects were bright before the worst-ever outbreak of the virus. The economy was expected to grow 14 percent this year, almost three times faster than the average for sub-Saharan Africa. In neighboring Liberia and Guinea, rich iron-ore deposits were luring billions of dollars in foreign investment and fueling growth.