Ulaanbaatar Mayor pledges 80 percent drop in air pollution by spring 2021 www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ On May 18, Governor of the capital city S.Amarsaikhan gave a briefing on timely matters concerning Ulaanbaatar city. He stressed “Air pollution in Ulaanbaatar city has already been cut in half, and noted that the pollution will be reduced by another 30 percent in the upcoming winter season, which will result in the city’s air pollution to drop by more than 80 percent by the spring of 2021.”

Outstanding debt reaches MNT 1.3 trillion in April www.zgm.mn

A total of remaining outstanding debt to entities and citizens reached MNT 17.2 trillion as of late April, plummeting by MNT 514.5 billion compared to the same period of the previous year. Depreciation equals 2.9 percent in accordance with the National Statistics Office (NSO)’s statement. During its meeting on April 13, 2020, Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) had decided banks and borrowers to be able to extend the term of consumer loans that encounter difficulties with repayment up to 12 months at once; changing the outstanding loan condition is impossible due to income ratio of 60 percent as well as 30 months cap. The commission also said, “There is no shift in the amount of income and this exemption does not apply to borrowers who are able to repay the loan on schedule.”As of April following the decision, the remaining outstanding loan turned MNT 1.3 trillion, increasing MNT 328 billion or 33.5 percent from a year ago and overdue loan accounts for 7.6 percent and non-performing loan comprises 10.9 percent of the total loan debt. Loan growth is expected to continue to decline in the first half of 2020 and to increase gradually in the second half, according to the Bank of Mongolia.

NSO: Equilibrated balance deficit totals MNT 643.5 billion www.zgm.mn

According to the National Statistics Office (NSO), the equilibrated balance showed a deficit of MNT 643.5 billion in the first four months of 2020. It was deteriorated by MNT 930 billion compared to a surplus of MNT 286.5 billion in the same period last year. Total equilibrated revenue accounted for 93.4 percent of the general government budget revenue. Specifically, the deficit was higher in February, March, and April, the state of the emergency period amid the pandemic. During the period, general government budget expenditure and net lending increased by MNT 474.8 billion or 16.7 percent year over year, totaling up to MNT 3.3 trillion by preliminary results. This was mainly due to the increase of MNT 464.2 billion or 18.7 percent in current expenditure and MNT 68.7 billion or 21.9 percent in capital expenditure.In April 2020, total revenue and grants of General Government Budget reached MNT 642.4 billion, dropped by MNT 117.8 billion or 15.5 percent, and total expenditure and net lending amounted to MNT 970.5 billion, rose by MNT 109.9 billion or 12.8 percent compared to the previous month. Mongolia’s foreign debt due in 2020-2024 stood at USD 14.3 billion, increasing the need to raise official foreign exchange (FX) reserves. FX reserves briefly fell to USD 4.09 billion in March from USD 4.4 billion at the beginning of the year.Moreover, the Trade and Development Bank (TDB) on Mon-day announced that it has repaid 100 percent of its government-backed bonds worth USD 500 million issued in 2015. TDB is successfully repaying its fifth bond. Since 2007, it has traded USD 1.14 billion worth of bonds in international markets.

IMF Staff Completes Discussions for Emergency Access to the Rapid Financing Instrument on Mongolia www.imf.org

Washington, DC – An IMF staff team led by Mr. Geoff Gottlieb conducted discussions with the Mongolian authorities from May 11-13 at the authorities’ request for emergency financing of SDR 72.3 million (about US$ 99 million).

General Election Commission accepting documents from candidates www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. On May 17, General Election Commission (GEC) started receiving documents of candidates nominated by the political parties or coalitions as well as independent candidates, who are registered to participate in the 2020 election to the State Great Khural following the Article 29.1; 29.2 of the Law on State Great Khural Election.

Entrée Resources’s BoP reaches USD 4.8 million in March www.zgm.mn

Entrée Resources Ltd. has filed its annual operational and financial results for the year ended December 31, 2019, on May 16. In accordance with the annual report, the operating loss and operating cash outflow before working capital in the first quarter was USD 0.4 million and were consistent with the comparative quarter of 2019. As of March 31, 2020, the company’s balance of payment stood at USD4.8 million. Entree Resources owns a portion of the Oyu Tolgoi (OT) license through a joint venture with Entree/Oyu Tolgoi. The company’s primary objective for the 2020 year continues to be to work with other OT stakeholders to advance potential amendments to the joint venture agreement (JVA) that currently governs the relationship between Entrée and OT and upon finalization, transfer the Shivee Tolgoi and Javhlant mining licenses to OT as manager of the Entrée/Oyu Tolgoi joint venture. The form of Entrée/Oyu Tolgoi JVA was agreed between the parties in 2004, prior to the execution of the Oyu Tolgoi Investment Agreement and commencement of underground development. The Company currently is registered in Mongolia as the 100 percent ultimate holder of the Shivee Tolgoi and Javhlant mining licenses. The development of the underground mine is slowing down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company emphasized in the report.

Total equilibrated balance deficit reaches MNT 643.5 billion www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. According to the preliminary results in the first four months of 2020, the total revenue of the general government budget amounted to MNT 2.9 trillion, of which MNT 2.7 trillion accounted for equilibrated revenue. Total equilibrated revenue was 93.4% of the general government budget revenue.

Mining and quarrying gross output decreased by MNT 1.3 trillion www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. According to the preliminary results, the gross industrial output reached MNT 4.1 trillion in the first four months of 2020, showing a decrease of MNT 1.3 trillion (24.1%) from the same period of the previous year. This decrease was mainly due to the decrease in mining and quarrying gross output by MNT 1.3 trillion (33.0%) and manufacturing output by MNT 65.1 billion (6.5%), respectively.

But the electricity, thermal energy, and water supply output by MNT 66.8 billion (15.3%), respectively. By preliminary results, the mining and quarrying gross output reached MNT 2.6 trillion, in the first four months of 2020, showing a decrease of MNT 1.3 trillion (33.0%) from the same period of the previous year. This decrease was mainly due to reductions in the mining of coal and lignite by MNT 944.2 billion (55.0%), extraction of crude petroleum by MNT 254.2 billion (77.1%), and mining of metal ores by MNT 113.4 billion (6.2%), respectively.

In April 2020, the gross industrial output reached MNT 925.7 billion, showing a decrease of MNT 55.5 billion (5.7%) from the previous month. This decrease was mainly due to declines in mining and quarrying output by MNT 32.8 billion (5.2%) and manufacturing output by MNT 13.0 billion (5.7%).

By the preliminary results of the first 4 months of 2020, in the mining and quarrying sector, extraction of gold was increased by 2.1 times compared to the same period of the previous year. In the manufacturing sector, wheat flour, milk, productions of pure water, soft drink, juice, and alcohol were increased by 14.5 percent to 32.7 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. By the preliminary results of the first four months of 2020, the production of coal briquette and face-covering was increased by 4.5 to 19.2 times compared to the same period of the previous year.

Moreover, in the mining and quarrying sector, extraction of iron ore, brown coal, copper concentrate, flour spar, hard coal, and crude oil was decreased by 3.6 percent to 74.8 percent. In the manufacturing sector, alcoholic beverages, lime, concentrated coal, metal steel, copper cathode 99%, cashmere products, cement, combed cashmere, meat, and cigarettes were decreased by 5.6 percent to 89.9 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.

By the preliminary results of the first four months of 2020, the sales of industrial production reached MNT 4.1 trillion, decreased by MNT 2.4 trillion (36.6%) from the same period of the previous year. This decrease was mainly due to the decline of MNT 2.2 trillion (48.4%) in sales of mining and quarrying and MNT 220.9 billion (15.2%) in sales of manufacturing, In contrast, the sales of electricity, thermal energy, and water supply were increased by MNT 67.8 billion (15.4%).

The sales of mining and quarrying production were decreased by MNT 2.2 trillion (48.4%) from the same period of the previous year. This decrease was mainly resulted from decreases of MNT 1269.5 billion (70.1%) in sales of coal mining and MNT 686.8 billion (28.7%) in sales of mining of metal ores.

For the total sales of industrial production, MNT 2.3 trillion (55.8%) were from export, of which the export of mining and quarrying was MNT 2.0 trillion (85.3%).

For the sales of mining and quarrying production, MNT 2.0 trillion (85.3%) was comprised from the export, of which 69.7 percent was from the mining of metal ores, 24.8 percent was from the mining of coal and lignite, 3.0 percent was from the extraction of crude petroleum, 2.5 percent was from other mining and quarrying.

Source: National Statistics Office

uCOVID Underdogs: The best COVID-19 response in the world - Mongolia www.medium.com

Mongolia has had the best COVID-19 response in the world. Not only do they have zero deaths, they have zero local transmissions. Mongolia didn’t flatten the curve or crush the curve — they just like ‘fuck curves’. In Mongolia, there simply wasn't an epidemic at all.
And no, they didn’t just get lucky.
Starting in January, Mongolia executed a perfect public health response, and they have never let up the pressure since. COVID-19 did not just leave Mongolia alone. Mongolia showed it the door.
For this all this hard work, however, they get little credit. Nobody’s talking about the ‘Mongolian example’. Instead, we talk about total failures like Germany or Sweden. Like I’ve said, success is ZERO, and Mongolia is as zero as you can get.
Just look for yourself. See the actions they took, when they took them, and how effective it was. I think you’ll be as mind-blown as I was. Mongolia’s response was intense, and somehow involved 30,000 sheep.
Wait, Mongolia?
But wait, you’ll say. Mongolia? Mongolia with two people per square kilometer? Remote, isolated Mongolia? Wouldn’t COVID just show up and find no one there?
No.

The city of Ulaanbaatar. Urban enough for COVID-19 to munch on
Density
It’s true that Mongolia is the least densely populated nation on Earth. As a nation, they’re pretty socially distant by default. However, their capital Ulaanbaatar has an urban population of 1.5 million people. That’s quite enough for COVID-19 to snack on.
In fact, Ulaanbaatar (307 people per km²) has a similar density to Bergamo, Italy (400 per)— the epicenter of the outbreak in Italy; one of the worst-hit places in the world. Low density didn’t save Bergamo. On its own, it won’t save anybody.
What about sheer remoteness? Where is Mongolia anyways?
Remoteness
Modern Mongolia is not actually remote. My wife has been there and I asked how. She shrugged and said they just took a flight.
I guess it would take a while by horse, but it’s just a two-hour flight from Beijing. There were daily connections with Wuhan. Ulaanbaatar is connected to China and Russia by rail and road, and there’s constant movement across the borders. If the first wave from China didn’t get them, the second from Russia would.
So it wasn’t remoteness that saved them either.
The Bias
There’s a bias here, which I’m also subject to. We give agency to ‘developed’ countries — “oooh look Angela Merkel is a scientist” — but assume that ‘developing’ nations just got lucky. We say it’s the weather, or population density, or some environmental factor of luck.
“They couldn’t possibly have saved their own asses, aren’t they poor?”
This causes some serious cognitive dissonance in western commentators.
“Poor… but not dead… must be the weather.”
Countries are used to giving aid to places like Mongolia, to sending advisors. It simply does not compute that they should have been getting advice from Mongolia the whole time.
But just look at the facts. Look at the numbers on the board. Look at what Mongolia did, when they did it, and tell me it’s just luck. Actually don’t. I’ll get pissed. They worked really hard and it’s plain for anyone to see.
Coronavirus didn’t leave Mongolia alone. They killed it. Ded.
20/20 Foresight

Imagine that you could go back in time to January 23rd with the horse race results and, I dunno, the new iPhone. People believe you. China has just shut down Hubei Province, the largest cordon sanitaire in human history. What would you scream to your leaders? What would you tell them to do?
You’d tell them that this was serious and that it’s coming for sure. You’d tell them to restrict the borders now, to socially distance now, and to get medical supplies ready, also now. You’d tell them to react right now, in January itself. That’s 20/20 hindsight.
That’s exactly what Mongolia did, and they don’t have a time machine. They just saw what was happening in Hubei, they coordinated with China and the WHO, and they got their shit together fast. That’s their secret, not the elevation. They just weren’t dumb.
January 22

Some people think the WHO is like a paramilitary organization, busting into countries, investigating, telling everyone what to do. That’s not how they work. They’re just there to help. You have to listen to them, and you have to let them in. Mongolia did. On January 22nd, the Mongolian Health Ministry held a press briefing with the WHO to announce that shit was real.
They said there was human-to-human transmission (AKA, this is contagious AF) and that they had begun screening people and getting prepared.
If I could tell you the one secret to Mongolia’s success it’s this:
JANUARY!! JANUARY!!!! JANUARY!!!!!
Mongolia was putting its big boy pants on in January. That made all the difference.
January 24

At this point, flu season was already hitting Mongolia’s children hard, so the first thing they did was protect their young. Today we say that COVID-19 spares the young but A) we don’t know that in the long-term and B) we definitely didn’t know it then.
If I hear a vehicle coming around a corner I don’t wait to see the thing, I just move my kids. Mongolia moved their kids. They announced that schools would be shutting down on the 27th.
Another thing I want you to note is this. Mongolia announced almost all closures in advance. They weren’t like “oh shit, things are on fire get all your food by midnight” (I’m looking at you India). Because they were prepared and planned ahead, they were able to gradually lockdown without all the chaos.
I don’t know if I mentioned this but
JANUARY!!!!!!
This is also when Mongolia told people to wash hands, wear masks, and all the other things many of us only heard later. Mariah Carey didn’t teach Americans how to wash their hands until mid-March.
January 26
Another thing to note, Mongolia had zero cases at this point. Everyone was looking at a global dumpster fire being like, “well, my dumpster’s not on fire.” This was dumb. Mongolia was smart.
Three days after Hubei, the Mongolian cabinet held a special meeting, because they were taking this seriously. At this meeting, they decided to:
Close universities
Restrict vehicle crossings (not yet rail or air)
Prohibit public events
Release funds for medical equipment and personnel
Mongolia’s growth is almost completely export-driven, so they were taking a huge economic hit here, especially with zero cases. However, they were not like the dinosaurs in the west, looking at an asteroid saying “but the economy!”
Mongolia didn’t negotiate with the virus, offering up their grandparents. They just told the virus to fuck off and saved everybody. Yes, their economy was hammered, but this was unavoidable. They saved as much of their economy as possible. They lived to fight another day.
This is textbook public health. Throughout this crisis Mongolia always looks like they’re overreacting, which is exactly what you’re supposed to do. That’s the only way to fight a virus that only shows up two weeks later. As Dr. Xifeng Wu said:
“Overreacting is better than not reacting.”
Do you know how Mongolia stayed at zero local cases? They acted like there were already a thousand. Also, and I don’t know if you’ve heard but:
IT’S STILL JANUARY!!!
January 27

Mongolia getting its students out of Wuhan
So at this point, with zero cases, Mongolia starts actually importing cases, on purpose. In a slow, controlled manner, they start repatriating Mongolians.
Other countries did this stupidly, allowing infected citizens to fly back unchecked while banning foreigners, as if the virus carries a passport. Mongolia deliberately and cautiously repatriated people, testing and quarantining them as they came in.
On the 27th, they started negotiating the return of 31 students from Wuhan. On February 1st they flew them back and quarantined the lot, including the flight crew. This began an ongoing process of repatriating and quarantining Mongolians, first for 14 and then 21 days. There wasn’t a mad rush back, they controlled it. This enabled them to manage imported cases and, again, reduce local transmission to zero.
I’ll pause here for a minute. This is January. Mongolia was doing all this in January, when most countries were doing nothing. Like the story of the ant and the grasshopper, or Jon Snow, they knew that winter was coming and they acted accordingly.
What was your country doing in January? How many lives could we have saved, if we’d just looked to Mongolia then?
February

Throughout February, Mongolia was furiously getting ready — procuring face masks, test kits, and PPE; examining hospitals, food markets, and cleaning up the city. Still no reported cases. Still no let-up in readiness. No one was like “it’s not real!” or “burn the 5G towers!”
The country also suspended their New Year celebrations, which are a big deal in Asia. They deployed hundreds of people and restricted intercity travel to make sure, though the public seemed to broadly support the move.
Again — and I’ll keep saying this until March — there were still NO CASES. If you want to know how Mongolia ended up with no local cases, it’s because they reacted when there were no local cases. And they kept acting.
For example, when they heard of a case across the border (ie, not in Mongolia) South Gobi declared an emergency and put everyone in masks. The center also shut down coal exports — a huge economic hit, which they took proactively.
As you can see, at every turn they’re reacting like other countries only did when it was too late. This looked like an over-reaction, but in fact, Mongolia was always on time.
Other countries, however, were not as proactive as Mongolia, and I’m talking about the organized countries here, not the bleach drinkers of the west. In February, Mongolia suspended flights to Korea and Japan.

That feeling when your friend gives you 30,000 sheep
At this time they were also helping China, specifically by sending 30,000 sheep, which I don’t quite understand, but cool. Note: as an update, apparently giving sheep is a traditional gesture of support during hard times, and someone visiting China at that isolating time would have meant a lot. When President Kh. Battulga returned from that trip, he himself went into quarantine for 14 days.
March

After their first case, Mongolia reacted like it was ten thousand
That’s leadership. I’m not saying that I agree with the former Sambo wrestler and owner of a company named Genco (from The Godfather) on everything. I really don’t know, but even an outsider observer can see that his government led on COVID-19, and that he led by example. The President himself went into quarantine, which is a public health communication in itself.
At this point, Boris Johnson was proudly shaking hands with COVID patients. Meanwhile, the Mongolian President is in quarantine and his country has stockpiles of tests and PPE. Perhaps most importantly, there were other competent people and institutions chairing meetings and leading.
Then it happened.
On March 10th, Mongolia recorded its first confirmed case of COVID-19. A French national who had arrived from Moscow on March 2nd. Mongolia was ready. They isolated his entire office and the horse he rode in on (it was a train). They quarantined the entire aimag (district) and shut down all trains, cars, and public transport. Mongolia went into partial lockdown, shutting a range of shops. They decontaminated 9.2 million square meters, across 6,000 locations. They decontaminated some places twice.
One case. They did this for one case. That’s why they have no local transmission. It’s not the population density. That advantage can be shattered by one train ride. They just don’t let transmission happen.
Coronavirus didn’t leave Mongolia alone. They killed it.
Today

I’d go on, but I hope you get it by now. At the slightest provocation from COVID-19, Mongolia would — in public health terms — go apeshit. If there were zero cases, they reacted like it was a thousand. With one case, they reacted like it was ten thousand.
Given a virus that multiplies exponentially, this is exactly what you’re supposed to do. Either you’re going apeshit or the virus is. Those are the only choices, at least if you want to win.
Even today, with zero transmission, they have not let down their guard. On May 7th, they simulated a lockdown, conducting a drill involving 150,000 citizens and 3,500 officials. Again, they didn’t need to be locked down, they just wanted to be prepared.
In medical terms, this is bad-ass. This is taking public health to the level of a martial art. Mongolia should be an inspiration to us all.
Today Mongolia has 140 cases, all imported. To be completely honest, I’ve seen these numbers myself and just shrugged. Must be the elevation, I thought, or the density.
I was wrong. The now fallen West and even the new leaders of East Asia were still behind Mongolia. Of all countries in the world, Mongolia has faced great risk and executed a nearly perfect response.
Of course, it hasn’t been easy. The Mongolian economy has suffered along with the global economy, and many Mongolians were poor to begin with. According to a contact in Mongolia, after four months of constant alertness, people are just tired. And now there’s a potential second wave from Russia. It’s hard.
But that’s leadership.
Mongolia has shown global leadership. Not just zero deaths, zero local cases. Just zero. Nothing happened on their soil. We should all be getting advice from Mongolia and, if possible, some sheep.

by Indi Samarajiva

AmCham Mongolia urges fight against corruption in Mongolia www.montsame.mn