TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati predicts China’s economic growth will drop below 6 percent following the coronavirus outbreak that emerged from the country’s Wuhan province nearly one week ago. She said this situation will worsen the already underperforming economy.

“The coronavirus outbreak will affect every element in China. Learning from the SARS outbreak, this will have an effect on China’s first and second quarter economy,” said Sri Mulyani in a meeting with the House of Representatives (DPR) at the parliamentary complex today.

Apart from losing the momentum to boost its economy, Sri Mulyani said the outbreak will most-likely hamper China’s economy throughout this January.

“The coronavirus and lockdown policy will see China’s potential growth unrealized due to domestic factors. They will also lose momentum,” said Sri Mulyani.

This comes as a comparison to the previous years which usually sees China boosting its economy amid the Lunar New Year in the form of increased domestic consumption.

Previously, the chief economist of Bank Mandiri, Andry Asmoro, said that the coronavirus outbreak will severely strike China’s economy. However, he maintained that China had always been predicted to see an economic drop despite the outbreak.

EKO WAHYUDI