The economy in Bali shrank by 9.31 percent year-on-year in 2020, the National Statistics Agency (BPS) announced today, as the coronavirus pandemic brought the tourism-dependent province to a shuddering halt.
In the last quarter of 2020, Bali’s economy shrank by 12.21 percent year-on-year, which represented a 0.94 percent growth from the previous quarter.
BPS cited travel restrictions introduced prior to the year-end holidays as having impacted the local economy, as it resulted in many travelers from other parts of Indonesia cancelling their trips to the island.
“Those [restrictions] really impacted the economy in the fourth quarter of 2020 for Bali province,” Hanif Yahya, who heads the BPS office in Bali, said during a press conference earlier today.
BPS also today announced that Indonesia’s economy contracted by 2.07 percent year-on-year in 2020, the first annual contraction since the 1998 financial crisis.
By the end of the third quarter of 2020, Bali and the Nusa Tenggara islands were the hardest hit regions in Indonesia amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This week, the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) said that at least 60 hotels across the province are being put up for sale due to continued decline in occupancy rates.
