Cameron shames EU states for spending less than IKEA on Ebola

BRUSSELS — British Prime Minister David Cameron urged fellow European Union leaders to increase their spending on tackling Africa’s Ebola outbreak, pointing out that 18 of them have pledged less than the amount donated by the furniture group IKEA of Sweden.

The IKEA Foundation has given Medecins Sans Frontieres a €5 million (S$8 million) grant to fund the treatment of victims. This outstrips donations from countries including Austria, Poland and Spain, said a British official, who asked not to be identified discussing government policy.

“It is very important we take action at the source in West Africa,” Mr Cameron told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday.

“Britain has been leading the way in terms of Sierra Leone,” he said, citing a pledge of US$200 million (S$255 million), plus help from military and other forces sent to the country. “But we need other countries to do more.”

The United Kingdom government later announced a further €100 million to fight Ebola, bringing the total it pledged to more than €250 million.

The EU’s institutions and 28 member states have made more than €600 million available to fight Ebola since March, figures published earlier this week before the UK announcement showed.

The EU on Wednesday named Mr Christos Stylianides, the incoming EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, as the bloc’s Ebola tsar.

In the United States, Congress has allowed the Pentagon to shift US$750 million from its war budget to the Ebola mission.

The World Bank has said the disease could cost the West African regional economy as much as US$32.6 billion over the medium term. BLOOMBERG