Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Photo: AFP/VNA)Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesian President Joko Widodo hasinstructed the assessment of the impact caused by the novel coronavirus (nCoV)on the country’s economy, particularly its trade with China.
The President issued the instruction on February 4 following a ban ontravel to and from China to curb the spread of the virus.
Indonesia has also temporarily suspended the granting of visas toChinese citizens.
The same day, trade minister Agus Suparmanto announced a temporary ban on the import of liveanimal from China, which took effect immediately and will last until the nCoVis contained.
President Jokowi said the travel ban and import suspension is necessaryto protect Indonesians from the virus. According to him, the move can alsocreate opportunities for domestic industries to produce goods to replaceimports and export to other countries.
Last year, Indonesia imported 44.5 billion USD worth of non-oil productsfrom China, nearly 30 percent of all its imports.
In the first 11 months of 2019, the country received 1.9 million Chinesetourists, accounting for nearly 13 percent of total foreign visitors to theisland country.
Meanwhile, Xinhua news agency reported on February 5 that Malaysia hashad the first recovered nCoV patient.
The Malaysian Health Ministry announced on late February 4 that afour-year-old Chinese girl, one of the 10 confirmed casesin the country, has fully recovered and will be allowed to return home to China./.
VNA
