Egg-sized diamond stone that N2.5b can’t buy

The government of Sierra Leone has rejected a $7.8 million bid, about N2.5 billion  for a rough, egg-sized diamond stone, one of the biggest ever found,  saying it failed to meet its own valuation.

The 709-carat gem is the second largest ever discovered in the country and was unearthed in March in the eastern Kono region by a Christian pastor who gave it to the government to handle the sale.

Sierra Leone GDP to recover to 4.3 pct as Ebola shock subsides -IMF

Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma

Sierra Leone’s economic growth should reach 4.3 percent this year as it recovers from the twin shocks of an Ebola epidemic and a slump in iron ore prices that shrank its economy by 21.1 percent in 2015, the IMF said on Friday.