Indonesia's Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani, concerned that Wuhan Coronavirus will bring disaster to Indonesia's tourism and economic sectors. (Image via Ekonomi-Bisnis)

Coronavirus might disrupt Indonesia's toursim sector: Sri Mulyani

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Politics & Economic
Economic
Jan 30, 2020
2662
Indonesia’s Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, stated her concern that the novel coronavirus from Wuhan, Hubei Province, Central China, will affect the domestic tourism’s performance. China is the largest contributor for foreign visitors to Indonesia, especially during the Lunar New Year festivity.

Due to the outbreak, the Chinese government had imposed an outbound travel ban on its citizens. Indonesia had also imposed travel advisory for its citizens traveling to and from China. Speaking on Wednesday, Sri Mulyani said that the coronavirus will definitely affect the tourism relations between Indonesia and China, and Indonesia needs to watch out.

Nonetheless, the Finance Minister could not estimate how much blow has the coronavirus given to the national tourism sector’s growth. Since Indonesia also relies heavily on its tourism sector, Sri Mulyani warned that if the tourism went down, it would affect national economic growth.

Therefore, Sri Mulyani suggests that Indonesia should also promote its tourist destinations to more countries, to substitute for the decreasing Chinese visitors.

Regarding coronavirus’s effect on other sectors, Sri Mulyani said that the possibility remains open. Indonesia should also monitor the growth of China’s economy. The novel coronavirus might press China’s Q1 economic growth.

The Finance Minister was optimistic that China will enjoy the next quarters. However, as the second-biggest economy in the world, second to only the United States (U.S), Indonesia should be careful of China’s domestic demand as an indicator of their import needs. Sri Mulyani also could not estimate the effect of decreasing of China’s domestic demand to its Asian – ASEAN partners, including Indonesia.

Source: https://bit.ly/2U9Zlj5

Economy , Politics , Business , Tourism , Medical , Health , Disease , Outbreak , ASEAN , Indonesia , Asia , China , Wuhan , Coronavirus , Pulmonary , Pneumonia