Resource-dependent Mongolia was forced to seek IMF assistance when a collapse in foreign investment and a slump in commodity prices left it struggling to pay debts and sent its currency, the tugrik, into a tailspin.

The IMF deal required Mongolia to make a "comprehensive effort to rehabilitate the banking system" and to strengthen the central bank's independence.

Reforms are already at the drafting stage and are designed to improve supervision and regulation in the banking system, the IMF said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

Mongolia will also conduct an "asset quality review" to evaluate credit risks at commercial banks, it said.

The precise impact of the reforms will depend on how quickly banks will be forced to respond, and how the central bank enforces the asset quality review, said Tomas Bravenec, deputy chief executive officer at Mongolia's Golomt Bank, one of the country's biggest private banks.

"A banking sector with a health certificate would definitely help improve Mongolia's image as an investment destination," Bravenec said.

The IMF recently held its first quarterly review meeting with Mongolian officials since agreeing the $5.5 billion extended funding facility in May.

It said changes to Mongolia's tax administration were also being planned, and would include the creation of a fiscal council to strengthen tax policy and budgetary controls.

The IMF is providing Mongolia with three years of credit worth about $434.3 million. The bailout package also includes soft loans from Japan and South Korea and an extended currency swap agreement with the People's Bank of China.

The IMF said Mongolia is using the funds to bring a "return to confidence", noting the country's economy was now rebounding, helped by strong coal exports. Coal export revenues grew more than fourfold in the first half of 2017.

The IMF predicted Mongolia would see growth of 2 percent in 2017 versus 1 percent last year. The figure pales in comparison with 2011, when growth reached an all-time high of 17.3 percent, driven by a surge in foreign mining investment and rising Chinese commodity demand.

The IMF agreement also imposed austerity measures on Mongolia, including a commitment to introduce means tests to reduce welfare spending, which became a bone of contention during the presidential election in July.

The election was eventually won by populist former martial arts star Khaltmaa Battulga of the opposition Democratic Party, who was critical of the IMF deal. (Reporting by Terrence Edwards; Editing by David Stanway and Eric Meijer)

Local and regional e-tailers have been wondering the same thing. Taking the U.S. giant's eventual arrival as a given, they have been racing to fortify their own positions, none more so than Alibaba Group Holding. The Chinese internet behemoth has been stepping up its offensive since 2016, when it became clear that Amazon was on its way.

Tiptoeing in

Amazon finally landed in Southeast Asia on July 27. For many market players and analysts, this signals the start of a long and fierce battle between the Eastern and Western champions of e-commerce. But the arrival is likely to have repercussions far beyond Amazon and Alibaba, changing the fundamental dynamics of competition for players in every market in the region.

Amazon has begun its foray by dipping its toe in the small but dense urban market of Singapore, bringing its Prime Now service, which is tailor-made for urban residential areas.

According to the company, the service offers two-hour delivery on tens of thousands of items, including groceries, daily-use goods such as shampoo and diapers, and home electronics. Prime Now is offered only through a dedicated app, however. The company stopped short of opening a full-service website for Singapore, a move that has drawn some complaints on social media.

Limited though this first sally may be, Amazon has faithfully replicated its signature asset-heavy "click-and-mortar" business model in Singapore, setting up its own massive warehouse, or "fulfillment center," as the company calls such facilities.

"We use advanced techniques and algorithms to fulfill orders as quickly and efficiently as possible with processes such as random stow, batching and machine learning," said Ivan Lim, Amazon's Singapore logistics site leader, at a launch event held inside the new center.

S. Iswaran, Singapore's trade minister, was also in attendance. He said he expects Amazon's technologies to produce "significant gains in labor productivity and infrastructure utilization, as well as near real-time delivery of goods in the city." The Singapore government is also happy with the arrival of a new large-scale employer. According to Lim, the site already employs hundreds of workers.

Regarding plans to expand the geographic scope of service in Southeast Asia, Henry Low, director of Prime Now for the Asia-Pacific region, said in an interview with Bloomberg: "I am super-excited about prospects in Southeast Asia, with its burgeoning [middle-class] population. This is a great place for us to be in." Many took this as a declaration that Amazon is eager to enter other Southeast Asian markets and will use Singapore as its base camp for regional expansion. The company declined to elaborate on Low's remarks.

The chip allows employees to open doors and log onto computers by simply waving their hand.
Workers can also buy products from in-house stores.

About half of the company's 80 employees agreed to voluntarily implant the microchip with the prick of a needle.

Officials at the firm say this is the first such endeavor in the US.

Some employees were reluctant about implanting a foreign object in their hand and wanted to know more about the long-term health effects.

Experts in the information security field are also worried the technology could be used to track and monitor people in the future.

Through July, Ukraine imported 8.14 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas. 6.3 bcm from Slovakia, 1.58 bcm from Hungary with the rest from Poland.

Ukraine stopped buying directly from the Russian energy firm Gazprom in November 2015 and now buys the gas at its Western border.

In July, Oilprice.com reported that buying reverse gas from Europe is more expensive than buying it from Russia. This costs Kiev an additional $35-40 million a month, the media reported.

The Russia-Ukraine gas transit contract expires in 2019 and Moscow has repeatedly said Ukraine will lose its status as a key transit hub.

The Nord Stream pipeline is already delivering Russian gas directly to Germany, bypassing Ukraine. A second pipeline will double the annual capacity of 55 bcm of gas per year.

However, Gazprom has faced obstacles from the United States, Poland, and the Baltic countries.

Even without Nord Stream-2, Ukraine is likely to be left with a fraction of the gas transit it is used to. In 2017, Gazprom plans to export 90 bcm through Ukraine, and the volume is expected to drop to 15 bcm after the contract expires. Russia is the only country likely to use Ukraine's transportation system.

Mr.V.Enkhbold, Head of Foreign trade and economic cooperation department of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr.Ravi Shanker Goel Charge’d Affairs of India to Mongolia, I.Ser-Od Founder and CEO of MBD, B.Ganzorig CEO of the Federation of Mongolian Freight Forwarding, U.Gerelmaa Advisory Board member of the Federation, the top managers of the Mongolian freight forwarders including “Tuushin”, “Mon Logistics”, “SBL”, “Landex” companies and related officers of the Ministries are took a part of this event.

The participants discussed the key obstacles and challenges of the trade barrier, opportunities to reduce the transportation cost, generate B2B relations of two countries and agreed to follow up the concrete actions for the mission.

Mr.Ravi Shanker said “Mongolia and India have a historic long term friendly relations however our trade and business cooperation is not really satisfactory enough. We wish that Mongolian businesses take a part of one of the leading economy in the world which is attracting 50-60 bln USD amounted annual FDI that has 500 mln middle class buyers which definitely can be assumed the potential market for Mongolian exporters” 
Mr.Enkhbold said “We do pay a serious attention to Mongolia-India partnership however the geographical condition and distance between us makes a barrier to improve the trade. We need develop the cooperation by businesses in mutual countries like say for example the transportation logistics companies need to have a load on both ways etc. We as a Ministry of Foreign affairs working with the neighbor countries in order to facilitate the transit load for reducing the cost of actual products and expecting to have a concrete result in the near future”

As of June 2017, China's non-financial direct investment (FDI) in Mongolia totaled $4.1 billion. Contributing to 30 percent of the country's FDI, China is the second biggest foreign investor in Mongolia, official data also showed.

To take China-Mongolia commercial cooperation to a new high, China will work with Mongolia to synergize the Belt and Road initiative and the Development Road strategy, tapping into respective comparative advantages for strengthened cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture, mining, resources and people's livelihoods, Qian said. 

The second China-Mongolia Expo is scheduled to be held in Hohhot, capital of North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, from September 26 to 30 to function as a new platform for China and Mongolia relations, MOFCOM announced on Tuesday. 

The theme of the expo is "Building China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor, Embracing Global Cooperation and Win-win Results", Ai Lihua, Vice Chairperson of Inner Mongolia, told a press briefing. Both countries believe this is an optimistic platform that will enhance trade, investment, tourism and cultural exchanges and cooperation in Northeast Asia. 

China has been Mongolia's largest trading partner for a dozen or so years. In 2016, their bilateral trade stood at $4.61 billion, accounting for 60 percent of Mongolia's total foreign trade, according to official data. The two countries' economic and technical cooperation keeps deepening. To continue advancing the development of the ties, China has made efforts in assisting Mongolia in infrastructure, people's livelihoods and consumer goods as well as training over 3,600 people across the sectors. 

"Our bilateral cooperation mechanisms see continuous innovation. The two sides have actively leveraged the Mongolia-China Joint Committee on Economic and Trade Cooperation," Qian also said. "The two countries are also exploring the Erlianhot-Zamyn-Uud Cross-border Economic Cooperation Zone. The feasibility of a China-Mongolia free trade agreement will also be determined shortly," Qian continued.

The biennial event, scheduled for September 26 to 30 in Hohhot, capital of China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, will help promote China-Mongolia economic ties to a high level and improve cooperation among northeast Asian nations at large, Qian Keming, vice-minister of the MOC, said at a press briefing.

China has been the largest trading partner with Mongolia for more than a decade with bilateral trade up 44.2 percent year on year to reach $3.1 billion in the first half of 2017, he said.

Chinese investment in Mongolia has also seen robust growth with non-financial outbound direct investment reaching $4.1 billion by June this year.

Both countries will further strengthen bilateral cooperation in infrastructure, animal husbandry and mineral resources, Qian said.

Over 2,000 delegates from China, Mongolia and Russia will attend the expo to carry out pragmatic cooperation to strengthen economic ties, Ai Lihua, vice-chairman of Inner Mongolia autonomous region, said at the briefing.

At the conclusion of the visit, Mr. Mathai made the following statement:

“The economy is rebounding, with GDP growth likely to reach 2 percent this year on the back of strong coal production and exports, high private investment, and a return of confidence following the approval of the $5.5 billion IMF-led package.

Performance under the program has been good, with all quantitative targets on track. Fiscal results have been better than expected, supported by strong revenues and tight expenditure control. About half of the revenue overperformance will be saved, thus helping to reduce borrowing and control debt, while the remainder will be used to fund productive spending in line with the government action plan. Net international reserves have improved, reflecting strong export performance and capital inflows into the government securities market.

The authorities have moved ahead with their ambitious structural reform agenda, which will help to sustain growth over the medium term. The strengthening of the banking system is underway: the Asset Quality Review will soon be launched, important legal reforms are being drafted, and improvements to the regulatory and supervisory framework are being implemented. On the fiscal side, steady progress is being made in strengthening tax administration, tax policy, and budgetary controls, including through the establishment of a Fiscal Council. To strengthen the social safety net and target expenditures toward the most vulnerable, the government is fine-tuning the Child Money Program, with a commitment to target the program to less affluent families from 2018 and use the savings to increase food stamps for the poor.

The authorities and the team have reached staff-level agreement on the completion of the first review under the EFF arrangement, which is subject to review by the management and Executive Board of the IMF. The Board is expected to consider the first review in late September, and this could lead to a disbursement of SDR 27.9560 million, or about $37.82 million.

The team thanks the authorities for their cooperation, constructive dialogue, and hospitality during its stay in Mongolia.”