Three countries hold meeting on economic corridor establishment www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The second expert-level trilateral meeting on implementation of the Program on Establishing Economic Corridor among Mongolia, China and Russia was held in Moscow, Russia on August 29, 2017.

Mongolia Foreign Direct Investment: % of GDP www.ceicdata.com

Mongolia's Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) registered a growth equal to 6.1 % of the country's Nominal GDP in Mar 2017, compared with a growth equal to 3.7 % in the previous quarter. Mongolia's Foreign Direct Investment: % of Nominal GDP data is updated quarterly, available from Mar 2000 to Mar 2017. The data reached an all-time high of 50.5 % in Dec 2011 and a record low -145.3 % in Jun 2016. CEIC calculates Foreign Direct Investment as % of Nominal GDP from quarterly Foreign Direct Investment and quarterly Nominal GDP. The Bank of Mongolia provides Foreign Direct Investment in USD. The National Statistics Office of Mongolia provides Nominal GDP in local currency based on SNA 2008. The Bank of Mongolia average market exchange rate is used for currency conversions. Nominal GDP prior to Q1 2010 is based on SNA 1993.

Mongolian President to hold meeting with Moon and Putin www.news.mn

Mongolian President Kh.Battulga will hold summit talks with leaders of South Korea and Russia during his visit to the Russia Far Eastern city of Vladivostok.

KAMCO to conduct financial consulting project in Mongolia www.news.mn

The Korea Asset Management Corporation (KAMCO) and Financial Access (FA), which is a financial consulting firm headquartered in the Netherlands, have been selected as the preferred bidders for the Asian Development Bank’s consulting project for the recovery and stabilisation of the banking industry of Mongolia.

Caa1 - the lowest credit rating in Mongolian history www.mongolia.gogo.mn

ULAANBAATAR (GoGo Mongolia) - In Nov 2016, Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") downgraded Mongolia's government long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings to Caa1 from B3. 

Several green lights have turned on in Mongolian economy since then. Specifically, current account deficit stood at 358 million USD, meaning that it has dropped by 37 percent or 212 million USD from the same period of last year.
Goods and services account deficit dropped by 470 million USD and had a surplus of 248 million USD. Moreover, the balance of financial account had a surplus of 313 million USD. 
Mongolia has received 645 million USD foreign investment in the same period of last year while as of Jul 2017, foreign investment amounted 313 million USD which decreased by 332 million USD compared to the same period of last year. 
Meanwhile, the total balance of payments deficit was 48.8 million USD as of July 2017. A year ago, this amount was 41 million USD.
However, Caa1 ratings have not moved up and it is the lowest credit ratings in Mongolian history. 
"Invest Mongolia 2017" conference which is being held in Ulaanbaatar during Sep 4-5 raised this issue. Private sector representatives noted that with the Caa1 rating, it is almost impossible to attract investment from foreign countries. If one could find investment, the cost would be high. The biggest banks of Mongolia including Trade Development Bank, Khas and Khaan are determined their credit rating separately. However, their ratings are directly affected by the country`s rating. 
The Government pays for providers of credit ratings such as Moody`s, Fitch and S&P. Thus, private sector representatives recommended inviting representatives of these organizations to introduce the latest economic data and move the rating up. If Mongolia still has the Caa1 rating, Western investors consider Mongolia as a high-risk country to invest.

Russian firm seals energy exploration deal to drill South African shelf www.rt.com

Russia’s geological research company Rosgeo and South African national oil company PetroSA have signed an offshore drilling agreement on the sidelines of the of the BRICS Summit in Xiamen, China.

The deal is worth an estimated $400 million over the next 10 years.

Finland to get rid of coal by 2030 www.mining.com

The director general of Finland’s energy department, Riku Huttunen, announced that the country will introduce legislation to phase out coal and increase carbon taxes.

Boeing declares victory in Airbus subsidies dispute www.bbc.com

US aircraft manufacturer Boeing has won a victory in a long-running dispute with European rival Airbus.

The World Trade Organization has reversed on appeal a ruling that Boeing received some state aid to help build its newest aircraft, the 777X.
"The WTO has rejected yet another of the baseless claims the European Union has made," Boeing said in a statement.
However, Airbus said ‎"the 'game' is far from over" as other complaints over alleged aid are still to be resolved.
The two aviation giants have been locked for years in a sprawling set of disputes at the Geneva-based WTO.
Last year, the WTO backed a European Union complaint that Boeing got tax breaks to site a production facility in Washington state.
The US, acting on behalf of Boeing, appealed the decision and secured an outright victory that is not subject to further appeal, the WTO ruling said.
According to Airbus, Washington state has given Boeing tax breaks worth about $9bn (£7bn) and which were sufficient to shut out imports.
However, Boeing said the tax breaks amounted to no more than $1bn.
The WTO's appeals body has now ruled that the tax breaks were not explicitly to prevent free trade, removing them from its most severe category of banned aid known as "prohibited" subsidies.
However, the trade dispute is not over. Brussels and Washington have two larger cases pending at the WTO, centred on multiple claims and counter-claims about illegal subsidies for their respective aviation industries.
Boeing's general counsel, J. Michael Luttig, said in a statement: "The latest of the false claims Airbus and its government sponsors have made has now been rejected by the WTO.
"The EU and Airbus, meanwhile, continue to be in flagrant breach of WTO rulings and must eliminate the massive illegal subsidies the WTO said a full year ago had not been addressed, or risk US sanctions against European exports."
Airbus, which estimates it has lost $100bn in sales because of Boeing subsidies, said: "Boeing illegal subsidies are still illegal and need to be removed. The 'game' is far from over."

BoM issues 1-week bills www.mongolbank.mn

The Bank of Mongolia traded 597.2 billion MNT worth 1-week maturity central bank bill (“CBB”), with weighted average yield of 12.0 percent per annum. /For previous auctions click here/.

New S Korean Gov't Plans to Extend Economic Ties With Russia, China, Mongolia www.sputniknews.com

VLADIVOSTOK (Russia) (Sputnik) — The new South Korean administration is planning to enhance the country's economic ties with a number of states to the north, such as China, Mongolia as well as with the Far Eastern regions of Russia, the South Korean deputy prime minister said Monday.

"The new South Korean administration is planning now to actively promote a new policy on economic cooperation in the northern direction. Widening economic, person-to-person and trade ties especially with the Far East, as well as with China and Mongolia," Kim Dong-yeon said during the 16th session of the Russian-South Korean joint commission on economic, scientific and technological cooperation.

The official, who is also South Korea's minister of strategy and finance, added that new opportunities were opened up after the new administration came to power in Seoul.

"The Russian government is actively implementing its new eastern policy. That's why we can say that we have a common goal to explore and to develop Russia's Far East," the deputy prime minister said.
The minister added that Russia's Far Eastern regions are highly attractive for investments, expressing hope for investment growth in future.

"I highly appreciate and have a positive view on the investment attractiveness of the Far East. Of course, we had only good results on investments to the Far East, but I expect that they would be better in future," Kim said.

According to the South Korean official, the representatives of his country are interested in investments in Russia's Far East.

"The [South] Korean government and companies show major interest in the development of the Far East and I hope that we will see the growth of investments," Kim added.

The official added that the markets of South Korea had not been affected by the recent missile launch carried out by North Korea, because of the stable situation in Seoul's economy.

"Despite the problems stemming from the recent North Korean launch, it has not had a significant impact on [South] Korea's market situation. Such situation takes place, because the basis of the [South] Korean economy is very stable and because the Korean government manages the external risks in a very effective way," Kim told reporters after the 16th session of the Russian-South Korean joint commission on economic, scientific and technological cooperation in the Russian city of Vladivostok.

Seoul was ready to respond to any potential scenarios, but it was too early to implement more tough measures to influence markets, Kim Dong-yeon said.

"We consider that the North Korean nuclear tests in the short-run would affect [South] Korea's economy," the official said, adding that Seoul would take measures to stabilize markets if necessary.
The tensions on the Korean peninsula have escalated in recent months due to a series of missile launches and nuclear tests conducted by Pyongyang in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.