Beijing, June 22: The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic has slowed down the economy of the national capital of China by 1.8 per cent in the first five months, the state media reported today. Beijing's Development Planning Commission said the gross domestic product (GDP) of the city rose by 10.4 per cent during the same period last year to USD 14.5 billion.
The commissioner with the Beijing Development Planning Commission, Lu Yingchuan said fluctuation of the economy caused by SARS remained an obvious short-term influence while tourism and transportation were seriously affected.
According to a latest survey conducted by the city's Municipal Statistics Bureau, Beijing, the worst-hit city in the world from SARS, was expected to suffer USD 1.9 dollars in losses to the tourism sector alone due to the impact of the epidemic.
The survey said that in the first five months of this year, overseas and domestic tourist arrivals in the city dropped by 480,000 and 8.7 million, respectively, generating losses as high as USD 1.3 billion.
The losses are expected to slow down the city's economic growth by 1.4 percentage points.
Bureau Report