Surprising figures from pre-election year budget www.zgm.mn

The Parliament is currently discussing the draft bill on 2019 State Budget. As expected of a pre-election year, a significant amount of financing has been allocated to local budgets. On the other hand, the mining revenue, which is expected to account for 27 percent of total budget revenue, was increased by 76.4 percent compared to 2018 budget. Considering the external environment, the World Bank and Asian Development Bank recently upgraded their outlook on Mongolia’s economy; however, both banks warned the Government to remain wise on expenditure. “In some senses, the revenue performance has increased, so it does give the Government more flexibility. What they have got to do is to use that flexibility wisely. I would say to them that the best course of action going forward is to continue the focus on building up the buffers and keeping control of current expenditure,” said Declan Magee, Senior Economist at ADB. As for the World Bank, the recent regional economic report stated that the “Growing political uncertainty could induce a sudden relaxation of the government’s commitment to structural reforms. Mongolia’s growth prospects could be adversely affected by the consequences of an escalating trade war and a potential reduction in global demand-mainly from China-for coal, copper and other commodities and the resultant decline in global commodity prices. Weather related shocks, resumption of non-trade barriers at the border with China, could also significantly affect Mongolia’s coal exports.”

President Battulga: Child protection remains inadequate www.zgm.mn

Monitoring the implementation of child protection actions, President of Mongolia Battulga Khaltmaa held the second meeting with the related officials yesterday as scheduled during the previous meeting on August 30. After studying their reports, the President inquired the related agencies for faults and delays.
1335 SIX-YEAR OLDS WERE UNABLE TO ENROLL INTO SCHOOL
President: -I ordered the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Sport (MECSS) to prepare the standards for child protection and conduct safety inspections. What has been done in this regard and why hasn’t the standards prepared yet?
MECSS: -We have approved the standards of preschool education institutions in cooperation with the UNICEF. The implementation guidelines have been sent to every kindergartens nationwide. They have started sending their ability to install the standard with their own assets. The study is expected to finalize next month.

President: -11 percent of secondary schools have high risk, 31 percent - medium risk and 57 percent - low risk according to the Environmental Safety Assessment. There are no riskfree schools. The potential victims to the risk is children. Are there any opportunity to make them risk-free?

MECSS: -There are 65 secondary schools under high risk, of which 15 are in the Capital and the rest being in local areas. Majority of the current secondary schools were constructed in the 1970’s. Some buildings are aged over 50 years. We will focus on renovating constructions under the risk assessment.

President: -Enrollment of sixyears olds is becoming a growing problem in local areas. Several parents have already issued complaints on school accessibility. How are you planning on solving this?

MECSS: -As stated by the Law on Education, we are delaying the enrollment of six-year old children by one year. The enrollment of a total of 1335 children were postponed in this regard.

President: -This is not a solution. Every single six-year old child will not live in dormitories. This has to be settled within legal frames. Another problem is daycare centers. Who is responsible for their standards?

MECSS: -There was a decision to operate day-care centers at schools. The ministry cannot monitor private day-care centers. We have submitted a request to the National Authority for Children and the Cabinet and are revising the standards and requirements.

PRIOR NOTICES CAUSE INEFFECTIVE INSPECTIONS

President: -I have received several complaints about retail stores selling expired and/or unidentified products. General Agency for Specialized Investigation (GASI) inspection concluded that they were “unable to settle”. Aren’t there any surprise inspections?

GASI: -Law on State Inspection and Examination identifies planned and unplanned inspections. The planned inspection has to be notified near the end of the previous year, while the unplanned inspections require complaints or requests, as well as five-days of prior notice
President: -Prior notices will result in ineffective inspections. The law has to be reviewed.

GASI: -This is also our facing issue. It is impossible to find any violations with prior notices. Our inspectors are willing to conduct unplanned inspections if the law is revised.

700 PEOPLE BECAME VICTIMS OF CAR ACCIDENTS SINCE JANUARY, OF WHITCH 40 PERCENT WERE CHILDREN

President: -A serious incident occurred on social media last week. How is the action on cybercrime prevention?

National Police Agency (NPA): -The UNFRIEND movement against cybercrime reached over 6.1 million people in a double counting. In cooperation with the Communication and Information Technology Authority, the preparatory works of an influence campaign is currently underway. Also, the NPA has established a unit to fight against cybercrime.

President criticizes Cabinet's lack of response to capital punishment
At the end of the meeting, the President concluded the reports of Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, Authority for Family, Child and Youth Development, MECSS and Education Department of the Capital as inadequate and complimented the GASI, NPA and Traffic Police Authority for their effective actions. He then highlighted the growing numbers of child abuse and its recurrence, which is around 2-3 cases per day, and warned to focus on the issue. He remarked, “I submitted a request to revive capital punishment on child abusers; however, the Cabinet did not respond yet.”

Rosneft raises prices of fuel exports to Mongolia www.news.mn

In recent days, fuel prices have increased by MNT 100-250 (AI-95) and MNT 50-100 (A92) following Rosneft’s hike of its export prices combined with the fall of the Mongolian Tugrik against the US Dollar.

China is pumping more cash into its economy as the trade war heats up www.

China is pouring more cash into its flagging economy as it braces for further pain from the trade war with the United States.

Development policy cooperation between Mongolia and Germany to continue www,.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Talks on Development policy cooperation between the Governments of Mongolia and Federal Republic of Germany are taking place on October 8-9 in Ulaanbaatar.

Sooronbay Jeenbekov receives ex-President of Mongolia Nambaryn Enkhbayar www.kabar.kg

President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Sooronbay Jeenbekov, received on Monday ex-President of Mongolia Nambaryn Enkhbayar, who arrived in Kyrgyzstan to participate in the International Issyk-Kul Forum, the press service of the Kyrgyz President’s Office reported.

Bilateral trade of Kazakhstan, Mongolia reaches $28.8 million www.akipress.com

The bilateral trade of Kazakhstan and Mongolia reached $28.8 million in 5 months of this year, the Chamber of Foreign Trade of Kazakhstan said.

USD continues to strengthen against Mongolian currency www.xinhuanet.com

ULAN BATOR, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar has been maintaining its strength against Mongolia's national currency the tugrik, according to Mongolia's central bank.

China:H1 results confirm real economy strong www.chinadaily.com.cn

BEIJING - Strong performance of listed Chinese companies in the first half offered a glimpse into the strength and positive changes in the country's economy.

Listed companies on the A-share market were required to file their second-quarter reports with the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges before the end of August.

Combined revenues of all listed companies on the market stood at 20.81 trillion yuan ($3 trillion) in the first half, while the net profits were about 2 trillion yuan, both rising by more than 10 percent year-on-year, new data from the bourses showed.

Firms listed in Shanghai saw revenue and profit growth rates at 11 percent and 14 percent respectively, while companies listed in Shenzhen witnessed rates of 17.24 percent and 16.86 percent.

As the country moved to enhance support for the real economy, Shanghai-listed companies in the real economy reported revenue growth of 13 percent and profit growth of 25 percent, much faster than the 7-percent revenue and profit growth of financial companies there.

Firms in the real economy contributed 41 percent to the net profits of companies on the Shanghai bourse, up 4 percentage points year-on-year.

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said last month that it had encouraged banks and insurance companies to increase funding to meet the financing demand of the real economy.

The commission urged banking and insurance institutions to make full use of current favorable conditions including abundant liquidity and declining financing costs to raise their financing support for the real economy.

In the first half, Shanghai-listed companies in the real economy reported total financing of around 4.5 trillion yuan, up 9 percent year-on-year, with the majority of the financing coming from the banking system.

The central bank will raise the capacity and willingness of financial institutions to serve the real economy to create a moderate financial environment for supply-side structural reform and high-quality development, according to the central bank's second-quarter report.

Thanks to the supply-side structural reform, the crude oil, steel and non-ferrous metal sectors all experienced breathtaking growth in revenues and profits.

Net profits of steel companies listed in Shanghai surged 134 percent year-on-year in the first half, partly due to the country's firm stance on eliminating excess production capacity.

In the first seven months of 2018, China cut outdated crude steel capacity by 24.7 million tonnes, completing more than 80 percent of this year's capacity-cut target of 30 million tons, according to latest data from the National Development and Reform Commission.

Net profits of the crude oil and non-ferrous metal sectors on the Shanghai bourse both surged by 75 percent year-on-year, the Shanghai Stock Exchange said.

On the Shenzhen bourse, 957 companies in new strategic sectors, such as new energy and high-end equipment manufacturing, achieved growth of more than 20 percent in both revenue and profits.

China's economy expanded 6.8 percent year-on-year in the first half of this year, above the annual target of around 6.5 percent.

Climate change brings "significant risks" to Mongolia: PM www.xinhuanet.com

ULAN BATOR, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Climate change brings significant risks to Mongolia, said Mongolian Prime Minister Ukhnaa Khurelsukh on Friday when speaking at the parliament on the issues of population resettlement and urban development in the country.