According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Ebola death toll recently topped 4,900, with all but 10 of those deaths occurring in the West African nations of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The disease's human toll has been tragic and threatens to worsen. The WHO estimates that we could soon see as many as 10,000 new cases a week reported in West Africa, which represents a 10-fold increase from the current pace. Although several experimental vaccines are under development, their wide-scale availability is not expected until well into 2015.
Thus far, the mobilization of governments, nongovernmental agencies, and private industry has helped to contain Ebola, and its global economic impact has been muted. Although the countries at ground zero are expected to see a significant slowdown in their economies, they account for just 2% of the GDP of sub-Saharan Africa. The International Monetary Fund recently reduced its 2014 economic growth forecast for the region from 5.5% to 5%.
We asked CFA Institute Financial NewsBrief readers if global investors should consider Ebola a significant risk factor.
To what extent is Ebola a significant risk factor for global investors?
A plurality of respondents, 41%, don't currently consider it a significant threat but think it has the potential to become one. Their caution is echoed by an additional 19% who think the risk is localized and 8% who see the virus as a global threat.
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