The tornado ride at Dufan (Fantasy Land) in Taman Impian Jaya Ancol, North Jakarta. (Photo: thejakartapost.com) Hanoi (VNA) – Indonesia’s Jakarta administration has decided to extend the closure of tourist destinations and entertainment venues until April 19 as part of the capital’s effort to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Head of the Jakarta Tourism and Creative Economy Agency Cucu Ahmad Kurnia said previously, the Jakarta administration announced the temporary closure of city-owned tourist destinations and entertainment venues from March 23 to April 5.
The Indonesian government has outlined a worst-case scenario where the domestic economy contracts by 0.4 percent as the COVID-19 pandemic arrests swaths of economic activity and poses recessionary risks to Southeast Asia’s largest economy, said Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.
Indonesia’s economy grew by 5.02 percent last year, already the slowest in four years. The World Bank has estimated that the COVID-19 pandemic will significantly slow Indonesia’s economic growth this year – 2.1 percent in 2020, down from the initially projected 5.1 percent – if the situation starts to normalize by June.
The rupiah could hover around 17,500 Rp or even slide to as low as 20,000 Rp against the US dollar, the weakest in history, if Indonesia’s economy contracts and the COVID-19 downturn is prolonged, Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati warned.
The drop of the rupiah has made Indonesians worry about higher prices of daily supplies such as eggs, onions and sugar.
However, head of the national statistics bureau Kecuk Suhariyanto said Indonesia’s inflation rate in March was still under control./.
VNA
