Exports rose 13.1 percent to 7.0 billion dollars, while imports increased 35.5 percent to 5.9 billion U.S. dollars, according to official statistics.

Most of the export growth came from mineral products and textiles, which accounted for more than 90 percent of total exports.

In 2018, China remained Mongolia's major export destination, the data showed.

Among the more than 70 countries to which Mongolia exported its goods and services last year, China was the recipient of about 85 percent of the total.

The commemorative coin, which is marked 10,000 Mongolian tugriks (3.7 U.S. dollars), has a 38.61-mm diameter and contains 31.1 grams of pure silver. It depicts a Mongolian bodon, or wild boar in English.

The coin is available at the Treasury Fund of the central bank at a cost of 400,000 Mongolian tugriks (150 U.S. dollars) per piece, the bank's spokesperson Ariun Dagva told Xinhua.

The Year of the Pig begins Feb. 5, according to the Chinese lunar calendar.

Since 1972, the Bank of Mongolia has been issuing gold, silver and bronze coins depicting the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac, endangered animals, Olympic athletes and other well-known figures, as well as historical events or anniversaries.

The decision was made during a meeting held at the Book City Institute in Tehran on Monday.

P. Delgerjargal, the vice director of the Humanities Department of the School of Arts and Sciences at the National University of Mongolia, and history professor Danuu Ankhbayar met deputy director of the institute Ali-Asghar Mohammadkhani and scholar Mahmud Jafari at the meeting.

Mohammadkhani said that the institute has so far collaborated on publications and cultural activities with about 40 countries.

He added that Iranian people are not very familiar with Mongolia and its poetry and literature, while the Mongolian nation has little knowledge about Persian literature.

For his part, Delgerjargal said that the National University of Mongolia has several departments on European and Asian languages including German, French, English, Japanese and Turkish, while there is no department for the Persian language.

He noted that works by Persian poets Ferdowsi and Khayyam are currently being taught for students studying Eastern literature, but this seems like nothing considering the widespread popularity of Persian literature.

He added that the only book translated into the Mongolian language is the book “Akhbar-i Mughulan” compiled by historian scholar and manuscript expert Iraj Afshar.

In this meeting, he also introduced several Mongolian writers and publishers and hoped that the institute can help pave the way to introduce more Mongolian writers and poets, while it can help to provide opportunities to familiarize the Mongolian nation with Persian writers.

According the Minister’s report on the performance of 2018 General Government Budget, in the end of 2018 the equilibrated balance of the state budget had a surplus of over MNT12 billion, which has been the first record since 2010. The equilibrated revenue of the budget reached MNT9.2 trillion, not including MNT207 billion of the Stabilization Fund and MNT620 billion of the Future Heritage Fund.

The budget revenue overfulfilled by MNT2 trillion, which was mainly accumulated from the mining sector (MNT670 billion) and others (MNT1.3 trillion). It is a result of the government policy, growth of economy and investment, intensification of businesses, adherence of tight fiscal disciplines and Mongolia’s credit rating upgrades, noted the Finance Minister.

The Government’s gross debt is MNT21 trillion, but there is not large amount of debt that must be repaid in 2019 and 2020. In the end of 2017, the debt equaled 74.4 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, but it decreased to 60.9 percent by the end of 2018. It is estimated that if this figure is dropped further to 40 percent, there will not be any pressure on the budget.

In 2018, over 600 thousand people received a total of MNT 78 billion as VAT refunds. Then, it is planning to disburse VAT refunds worth MNT120 billion to 808 thousand people very soon.

In accordance with the obligation given by the Cabinet Secretariat and the Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry, the Mineral Resources and Petroleum Authority has reached an agreement with petroleum product importing companies on lowering the retail gasoline price.

On January 14, Chief Cabinet Secretariat G.Zandanshatar met Deputy Chair in charge of crude oil of the Mineral Resources and Petroleum Authority Ts.Erdenebayar, where he was informed about timely issues.

As results of several meetings with the importers, the retail gasoline price has been cut in stages since December 2018. Specifically, most commonly used gasoline and fuel prices have been lowered by 250 tugrug per liter so far.

About 110 entities in Mongolia are engaged in meat processing.

Mongolians consume 300-400 tons of meat or around 10-12 million head of livestock per year. The country has opportunities to export over 180 thousand tons of meat.

Last year, Mongolia exported sheep, goat, beef and horse meat and meat products to 15 countries: Azerbaijan, DPRK, China, Vietnam, Iran, Spain, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Hong Kong, Uzbekistan and Japan, reported the Ministry.

Majority of people were apprehensive about current air pollution in Mongolia that continues thorough winter season which is the main source of various social health issues in the capital, Ulaanbaatar.

In addition, Mr. Gonchigsumlaa Sukhbaatar has questioned whether there is fair competition without corruption, opportunities in the labour market for overseas graduates and healthy environment to live in.

Mr. Batbold Ayurzana has also supported equal opportunities for younger generation and stood against the corruption in the society.

“Younger generations should take steps everyday towards their dreams and if millennials have positive mindset and collaborate more the future is bright in Mongolia” said Ms. Oyuntuya Davaatseren.

Mr. Davaasuren addressed, “I, hereby, announce this year as the year for Smart Energy System. The entire world is adapting to the usage of a smart system. We have to follow this practice. This will allow us to settle various issues. In doing so, we will involve top-notch programmers, technicians, and engineers, as well as all the government bodies in the energy sector.”

Within the frame, electricity and heat measurement instruments will be installed in power plants, which will drastically reduce the risks of accidents and delays. For instance, the ministry is planning to cooperate with the Russian Federation to install a smart system in turbine generators. The cost is currently unidentified and will be set soon as the ministry assigned tasks to the boards of implementing companies.

According to the ministry, the construction of the Fifth Thermal Power Plant has been suspended due to the dissolution of the consortium. Therefore, the ministry plans to increase the capacities of currently existing power plants. For example, the feasibility study of expanding the capacity of the Second Thermal Powerplant to 300MW has been completed. Additionally, Mr. Davaasuren noted that the night-time electricity discount will further continue in 2019- 2020.

As for the Erdeneburen Hydropower Plant, the ministry has reportedly settled the project financing and is planning to commence the construction this year. However, the Egiin Gol Hydroelectricity project is on a hold-up due to environmental issues. The minister highlighted that the completion of these two hydropower plants will create a fully independent electrical system.

On the air pollution reduction actions, the ministry announced to install a 4 kWh heating equipment in 42,000 households in Ulaanbaatar city.

ENERGY SECTOR FACES MNT 20 BILLION LOSS ANNUALLY

According to the Director General of the Energy Regulatory Commission Tleikhan Almalik, the base electric charge did not change since 2015. Currently, Mongolia is purchasing electricity at MNT 32,000 per kWh and is selling them to private entities at MNT 9,000 per kWh. The annual loss of the energy sector is currently over MNT 20 billion. With the exception of coal, all the materials and equipment are imported, and due to the increase in foreign exchange rates, the deficit has further piled up. Therefore, the commission is planning to revise the base charge this year.

For December, imports fell 4.7 percent from the previous month to 429,000 tonnes from a revised figure of 450,000 tonnes in Novemeber, the General Administration of Customs said. December was also down 4.7 percent from the same month a year ago.

Annual imports of unwrought copper – which topped the previous record of 4.94 million tonnes set in 2016 – were buoyed by China's crackdown on scrap copper in 2018, part of efforts to combat pollution.

There's certainly continuing tightening pressure on China's imports of lower quality scrap so it's not a terrible surprise that China is importing more metal
Imports of Category 7 copper scrap, such as coiled copper cable and waste motors, were down sharply from 2017 and have been banned completely in 2019, while China in August slapped a 25 percent tariff on imports of scrap material from the United States, one of its top suppliers.

This has left consumers seeking more of the metal in other forms.

"There's certainly continuing tightening pressure on China's imports of lower quality scrap so it's not a terrible surprise that China is importing more metal," said Lachlan Shaw, a commodities strategist at UBS in Melbourne.

Importers are "getting less copper units from scrap, and more from concentrate and metal," he added, noting that China's overall scrap crackdown looked set to continue with additional restrictions to come into force in July.

Annual copper concentrate imports rose 13.7 percent in 2018 year-on-year to a record 19.72 million tonnes, although December imports fell by 13.4 percent from November to 1.46 million tonnes, the lowest since February 2018.

(By Tom Daly and Melanie Burton; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)