Evidently, this is 'fake news'. The Finance Ministry confirmed that the Government of Mongolia will not issue any bonds in the near future. Under the IMF programme, Mongolia's credit rating has increased and the economy is much recovered; the government intends to focus on positive performances.

During the meeting, the state policy for water conservation, proper use and wastewater recycling and reuse and the introduction of future works were presented by Sh.Myagmar, head of the Land Management and Integrated Water Policy Coordination Department. “A bill to Amendments to the Law on Water Pollution Payment are ready for Parliamentary discussion. The backbone of the bill is to encourage enterprises with state policy to reuse water. The policy of the Minister N.Tserenbat is to make technological renovations in companies so that they reuse water as much as possible through providing soft loans to them” he said.

The representatives of the companies exchanged views on the water saving, water reuse projects and advanced technologies they introduced.

B.Misheel

A parliamentary panel this week approved a proposal to limit to just 100 each year the number of new resident permits granted to foreign or stateless people over the period from 2018 to 2020, with just 30 each from China and Russia, legislator Tsend Nyamdorj said.

The measure will now be considered by parliament.

"If the standing committee approves the bill, it makes it very likely the parliament would have no problem passing it," said Mogi Badral Bontoi, chief executive of market intelligence group Cover Mongolia.

Although open to foreign trade, the former communist, one-party state has been careful to prevent an influx of foreign labour.

Mongolians especially mistrust Chinese workers, not only because of long-standing geopolitical tension with their giant neighbour, but also because they can be hired cheaper and work longer hours.

Unemployment in Mongolia stands at 9.1 percent, the National Statistics Office says.

The strain with China can be traced back to centuries of subjugation, with Mongolia only achieving formal independence in 1921. The Soviet satellite state served as a buffer between China and the Soviet Union until 1990, when it peacefully transitioned to democracy.

Rapid economic growth, driven by immense resource wealth, has prompted interest from foreign nationals. Though foreigners now make up less than 0.4 percent of the population, Ulaanbaatar has used high fees and quotas to rein in immigration.

Last year, Mongolia cut its foreign workforce in half, and sent home about 1,200 North Korean workers to comply with the sanctions.

The Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine, run by mining conglomerate Rio Tinto, has also been under scrutiny for its use of Chinese labourers.

About 93 percent of the Oyu Tolgoi workforce is Mongolian, exceeding a lower limit of 90 percent set in a 2009 investment pact. During construction, no more than 40 percent of workers could come from overseas.

After an inspection of Oyu Tolgoi last month, immigration officials deported foreign contractors with Australian engineering firm Hofmann Engineering for visa violations.

With just 3.1 million people in an area almost the size of Alaska, Mongolia is the world's least densely populated country.

Many Mongolians are leaving home for work and education elsewhere, including China, and South Korea has eased their pathway to jobs.

"More Mongolians are leaving to work abroad, which means fewer people in the local labour pool," said Bontoi.

"Mongolia capping foreign labour seems very paradoxical."

(Reporting by Terrence EdwardsEditing by David Stanway andClarence Fernandez)

On Tuesday, the cryptocurrency market capitalization sank below $300 billion for first time since November, according to CoinMarketCap data. The top 10 digital assets by market value are facing double-digit losses for the fourth time in the last five days.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been hammered by a series of crackdowns by banks and governments around the world. On Tuesday, the Bank for International Settlements warned that authorities must be prepared to act against the “invasive spread of cryptocurrencies.”

Since this year has been dominated by negative news for cryptocurrencies, most of them are down at least 70 percent from their record highs. Bitcoin’s market cap has plunged to $106 billion from its record of $326 billion.

Also this week, Britain’s Lloyds Banking Group, which comprises Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland, Halifax and MBNA, announced that it had banned cryptocurrency purchases on its credit cards. The move was followed by similar decisions from American giants Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup. Another British bank, Barclays, said its customers can use their cards to purchase cryptocurrency legitimately.

One large business hub that has no plans to ban cryptocurrency trading is Singapore. This was made clear in a statement by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Tuesday.

In specific, I-III class wheat will receive incentive of MNT 60 thousand per ton and IV class MNT 50 thousand.

The Cabinet also agreed on tariff discount for wheat seeds of the Crop Farming Support Fund in order to support land farmers who suffered crop loss last year, and run spring sowing normally.

MNT 14.9 billion was projected last year’s budget for wheat bonus. The incentive requirements have been fulfilled by 597 citizens and entities in 13 aimags for supply of 128 thousand tons of wheat.
Kh.Aminaa

During its meeting on February 6, the Cabinet discussed air pollution reduction and ways of intensifying the National Program on Air Pollution Reduction.

The Cabinet decided to grant the authority of air pollution inspector to rangers and the staff of the Air Pollution Reduction Department of the Capital city, and the authority of non-staff inspector to corresponding officials in Khoroos of the capital city.

Corresponding Ministers and Governors of aimags and the capital city were ordered to look into possibilities of assisting citizens interested in migrating from UIaanbaatar to provinces to work in the agriculture sector, and introduce their proposals to the Cabinet meeting.

The Government is ready to render all forms of support for intensification of infrastructure development aiming to reduce air pollution such as establishment of a satellite city, sub-center, village and industrial and technological parks.

Corresponding Ministers and the Mayor of Ulaanbaatar were also assigned to study the matter of moving some government agencies, state-owned universities and higher educational institutes from downtown and present their proposals.

Furthermore, the Government aims to phase out the consumption of crude coal, promote use of refined fuel and broaden the centralized network.

The Government plans to take measures including converting public transport and taxi to gas fuel, exempting gas and electric-engine buses, trolleybuses and taxi vehicles from customs duty and value-added tax, and supporting domestic vehicle manufacturers. Furthermore, more actions like infrastructure development in ger areas, intensification of construction works and circulation of unsold apartments will be taken.

The IMF said in a notice that it has completed its third assessment of Mongolia's $434 million three-year Extended Fund Facility, part of a quarterly review process agreed last year and designed to ensure Mongolia's reforms remain on track.

Mongolia agreed in 2017 to cut spending and undertake structural reforms as part of a $5.5 billion IMF-led bailout package aimed at relieving debt pressure and bolstering the tugrik currency, which went into freefall in 2016.

But the agreement faced "significant risks" and would therefore be subject to a quarterly review, the IMF said.

The IMF said on Tuesday that Mongolia had met key fiscal deficit targets while strong international commodity demand had aided the country's recovery.

Mongolia's economic growth was now projected at 5 percent in 2018 and 6.3 percent next year, compared with an estimated 3.3 percent in 2017, it added.

"The economy is doing better than expected led by commodity exports and a pick-up in domestic demand," IMF staff team leader Geoff Gottlieb was quoted as saying.

Government revenues also benefited from the pick-up in commodities demand, with coal exports more than doubling on the year in 2017 thanks to stronger sales to China.

"These developments have resulted in a largely stable exchange rate, a fall in interest rates, and have greatly improved the government's debt service schedule," Gottlieb said.

"Nevertheless, the growth outlook is subject to risks including a fall in external demand for commodities and higher fuel prices," he added. "In light of these risks and still limited buffers, fiscal and monetary policies should remain prudent."

Neil Saker, the IMF's representative in Mongolia, told Reuters the next disbursement of funds will be made after the assessment is approved by the IMF's executive board meeting in March.

In December, Mongolia made a scheduled repayment of $500 million to investors in its $1.5 billion 2012 debt offering, named the Chinggis bond after the 13th century Mongolian conqueror known in the West as Genghis Khan.

Mongolia's stronger-than-expected recovery also enabled the government this month to abandon a 10-25 percent progressive income tax, which led to protests. The levy will instead revert to a flat rate of 10 percent. (Reporting by Terrence Edwards; Editing by David Stanway and Eric Meijer)

Wang Lixin, managing director of the WGC in China, said that annual demand in China last year was 8 percent higher than in 2016, comfortably above its five-year average of 284.8 tons.

"Looking at jewelry demand, China's 6 percent growth year-on-year in the sector in the fourth quarter heavily contributed to a 3 percent rise in annual jewelry demand－the first yearly increase since 2013," Wang said.

Consumption within China's gold jewelry market rose 3 percent year-on-year to 646.9 tons in 2017, data from the WGC show.

The country's overall gold consumption rose 9.41 percent to 1,089 tons last year, making the country the world's biggest gold market for the fifth year running, according to Beijing-based China Gold Association.

Wang said the trend for lower-weight, better designed, higher-margin premium gold jewelry products continued to gather momentum. Also in 2017, China harnessed more cutting-edge retail technologies, such as augmented reality and virtual reality.

"With the addition of AI-enabled tools, we believe the outlook for Chinese jewelry demand is positive," said Wang.

"The shift in taste has pushed the industry to upgrade, as many Chinese jewelry producers have already adopted machines with computer-controlled programs to design not only 18-karat, but also 24-karat gold products for better and more personal designs," said He Jingtong, a professor of business at Nankai University in Tianjin.

"Coupled with ongoing urbanization and rising domestic demand, powered by the Chinese government's measures to shift the economy to an internal consumption-driven model, the market potential in the Chinese mainland, particularly in lower-tier cities, continues to be attractive to jewelry retailers of all sizes," said Yang Lixin, director of the gemological training center for China's National Gem and Jewelry Technology Administrative Center.

The China Gold Association said the country's gold output dropped 6 percent to 426 tons in 2017, but it still retained its position as the world's biggest producer for the 11th consecutive year.

The country adopted new rules in 2016 to raise environmental requirements on solid waste from gold prospecting, leading to a wave of gold mine closures and output declines in the major producing provinces, including Shandong, Jiangxi and Hunan.