As people stay home, factories lie idle and shops shut throughout China, economists have lowered their growth outlook, Reuters reports.
Louis Kuijs at Oxford Economics, for example, is forecasting 5.4 percent growth in 2020, compared with 6 percent previously.
As that ripples through the world economy, companies are already feeling the effects and forecasters are estimating a hit of between 0.2 percent and 0.3 percent to global growth.
Cathay Pacific Airways said yesterday it will cut around 30 percent of its capacity over the next two
months. Hyundai Motor will suspend production in
South Korea because of disruption to the supply of parts.
"The economic shocks to mainland China brought by the coronavirus are likely to be 2 to 3 times larger than the SARS debacle in 2003," said DBS economist Chris Leung, referring to a previous epidemic that cut roughly a percentage point from GDP.
"The deepening of physical interconnectivity both within and outside China ever since has increased substantially."
