Ripple was down over 20 percent, trading at $1.15. This is a three-fold collapse from the $3.65 peak it hit on January 4. Bitcoin cash, cardano, litecoin, neo and other top cryptocurrencies have also slipped by up to 25 percent from the previous trading session.

Cryptocurrencies are falling on reports that authorities in China are planning to widen their crackdown on trading in the country. A Chinese state-run newspaper Securities Times reported on Tuesday that Beijing will target over-the-counter trading, offshore sites used for centralized trading, and peer-to-peer trading of large transactions.

Bloomberg also reported that China will bar access to local and offshore platforms that provide centralized trading, and target traders who provide bids and offers for big-scale trading.

Another BRICS country, Brazil, has joined China and India in taking action against cryptocurrencies. The South American country has prohibited local investment funds from buying digital cash.

The world's most popular cryptocurrency bitcoin was trading at $10,756 as of 9:20am GMT on Wednesday.

The Government decided to cut the pension loan interest rate in 2017. Previously Khan Bank and the State Bank had been offering pensioners six-month loans with 15 percent rates.

Out of the 381.8 thousand people that are currently receiving pensions, 230.8 thousand have taken loans worth MNT 680.9 billion at a rate of 18 percent to be paid over 36 months.

According to the Bank of Mongolia (BoM), the amendments followed the international practice of central banks and created a favorable legal environment the BoM by improving independency and decision making process. The amendments will help implement the monetary policy, regulate the banking sector monitoring, limit budgetary activities of the BoM that are not in line with its objectives and is set to be effective until April 1 2018. The law is expected to contribute to long-term economic growth by creating legal environment for development and implementation of proper monetary policy.

MP Terbishdagva Dendev said, “The central banks of other countries are focusing on price stability, which is significant in the long-term. Unfortunately, the article concerning the price stability has been disapproved by the Parliament.” MP Damba-Ochir Dorjdamba stated, “The amendments to the Laws on Central Bank will ensure financial stability during economic crisis. The BoM’s decision will now require approvals of four councils and one committee, retracting some of the Governor’s authority. Furthermore, the BoM will be able to monitor commercial banks and take timely measures. In addition, the BoM is now prohibited to issue loans for social welfare programs and projects. Only commercial banks will issue loans to the Government if necessary.”

Tugsbilig.B

Mongolia extracted a total of 47.5 million tons of coal and sold 40.7 million tons, of which 33.3 million tons of coal has been exported abroad. The amount is significantly higher compared to the expected level of 32 million tons in 2017. Furthermore, the coal export increased by 29.1 percent in the year-over-year comparison.

Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi JSC has failed to reach its forecast amount of 11 million tons. As for Energy Resource, the company had a plan to start operation of concentration plant in the fourth quarter of 2017; however, the sharp decrease of entrance capacity in Gashuunsukhait-Gantsmod border checkpoint had an impact in the company’s operations. Additionally, the Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry informed that the issues at the border checkpoint can be settled with a high-level meeting between Mongolia and China. According to the authorities of the border checkpoint, around only 10 coal trucks were passing through Gashuunsukhait-Gantsmod as of last Thursday.

Approximately 300 coal trucks were entering the border checkpoint in the beginning of 2018; however, Winsway Enterprise, one of the mining companies transporting coal through Gashuunsuhait-Gantsmod route, protested in China and caused the Chinese Government to halt the transport road near Gantsmod border checkpoint. According to the Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry, the company issued twelve demand from Gantsmod, which also included the Mongolian side to restore coal transport from Tavan Tolgoi to Gashuun Sukhait and stop the truck drivers from paying social insurance. Presently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Transportation Center are negotiation with the Chinese side.

Strengthening the rule of law in Mongolia is one of the priorities of the newly established European Union Delegation under the 2016-2020 EU Human Rights and Democracy Country Strategy for Mongolia. In this context, the EU and its Mongolian partners selected the implementation of the recently adopted criminal code and criminal procedure code in line with human rights standards as an area for further EU cooperation and support.

Ts.Davaasuren, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia, and G.Bayasgalan, State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs opened the conference which brought together national stakeholders such as representatives from the General Prosecutor’ Office, Ministry of Justice and Human Rights Commission of Mongolia. National and European experts presented reflections and recommendations on the furtherance of international human rights standards as the country seeks to reform its criminal justice system.

While the entry into force of the criminal and criminal procedure code in July 2017 provides a window of opportunity to protect human rights and strengthen the rule of law, many challenges remain for its implementation. “This conference presents an excellent opportunity to accelerate criminal justice reform through an open debate not only on legislative amendments, but also on the wider policy environment in which these changes need to be implemented,' said EU’s Chargé d’Affaires a.i., Mr. Marco Ferri. (EU Delegation to Mongolia)

The price of gold on the London Metal Exchange has been rising since the beginning of 2018. The BoM set its purchasing price at 102,000 to 103,000 MNT per gram.

BoM officials say gold purchases have increased due to consistently rising gold prices. In 2017, the BoM purchased 20.01 tons of gold. Under the Alt 2 campaign, the BoM plans to purchase 25 tons of gold each year.

MMC reports that it extracted 8.3 million tons of coal and produced 8 million tons in 2017. Four million tons of coal extracted was processed and 3.6 tons of concentrated coal was sold last year.

Compared to 2016, the volume of coal extracted increased by 179 percent, the volume of processed coal grew by 166 percent, and coal sold grew by 132 percent. The fourth quarter saw a 31 percent increase in coal extraction, and with coal production increased by 15 percent compared to Q4’16.

In 2017, there were 75,734 live births at national level, of which 74,328 live births (98.1%) were born in Mongolia and 1,406 live births (1.9%) were born in overseas.

Compared with the previous year, live birth was decreased by 3,648 or 4.6% and death was decreased by 340 or 2.1%.

The crude birth rate and crude death rate per 1,000 population were 23.8 and 5.0 respectively, and natural increase rate per 1,000 population was 18.8.
source: NSO

The steps against Inner Mongolia Changsheng Pharmaceutical followed an October inspection of its plant in Tuoketuo, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia in China by Belgium inspectors, according to a post on the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) Eudra site.

Inspectors listed one critical and eight major deficiencies. The critical deficiency was tied to the QA system, which inspectors called “weak” and incapable of establishing acceptable standards across the whole spectrum of processes. They specifically noted oversight of deviations, quality control, validation, complaint management and documentation, among others.

The EMA is suggesting that countries ban the company from shipping products unless producers have no alternative suppliers for the APIs. In that case, any shipped products should at least be retested, the EMA said.

Both U.S. and European authorities have stepped up oversight of Chinese companies as more are found shipping ingredients to the West. Last fall, the FDA banned products and slapped a warning letter on China’s Guangdong Zhanjiang Jimin Pharmaceutical after an inspection found it had shipped multiple lots of an OTC product to the U.S. containing the wrong API because the company messed up a translation.

The ROK's Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon expressed the desire during talks with visiting Mongolian counterpart Ukhnaa Hurelsukh.

After the meeting, the two leaders witnessed the signing ceremony of bilateral relations and cooperation documents.

The ROK government will grant a soft loan worth 500 million U.S. dollars within the framework of Extended Fund Facility arrangement with the International Monetary Fund. The loan must be repaid over a 30-year period with a 10-year grace period and an interest rate of 0.2 percent.

According to Hurelsukh, this money would be spent on reducing air pollution in Ulan Bator.

In addition, the two sides also agreed to work together to intensify cooperation in the labor sector in order to prepare skilled labor and job opportunities.

Relations between Mongolia and the ROK have constantly improved since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1990.

Bilateral trade volume stood at 700 million dollars in 2017, with an increase of 1.4 percent.

Hurelsukh arrived for a three-day official visit to the ROK on Monday at an invitation of his ROK counterpart Lee Nak-yeon. This is Hurelsukh's first overseas trip since he took office in last October.