WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Ebola epidemic could deal a US$32.6 billion (S$41 billion) blow to the West African economy over the next year if officials cannot get it under control, the World Bank warned Wednesday.

"The economic impacts of Ebola are already very serious in the core three countries - particularly Liberia and Sierra Leone - and could become catastrophic under a slow-containment, high-Ebola scenario," the Bank said in a new report.