New mechanism for Mongolia-China cooperation established www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, an online mechanism for Mongolia-China cooperation was established, holding its first video-conference on April 21.

35th coronavirus case recorded in Mongolia www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The National Center of Communicable Diseases (NCCD) today reported that 35th confirmed coronavirus case recorded in Mongolia.

Export dwindles by 39% yoy www.zgm.mn

As of April 21, the total export of Mongolia amounted to USD 371.9 million, which decreased by 39.3 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. According to the General Customs Administration (GCA), the fall was mainly due to the 64 percent decline in coal export and 79.7 percent drop in crude oil respectively. In addition, imports fell by 11.2 percent year on year, triggered by the vehicle import, which deteriorated by 28.8 percent during the reporting period. Fuel imports dropped by 16.6 percent; diesel fuel imports reduced by 20.8 percent as well. According to the National Statistics Office (NSO), the revenue of railway transport increased by seven percent from a year ago. This is mainly influenced by the rise in mineral product transportations. However, the tariff is relatively low compared to rail transit transport and imports, revenue has not been reached the target. Particularly, Mongolian Railway SOE decided to grow its transport volume by 25 percent. The company reported that transit transport has been declined. During the period, the company’s 102 container import and transit orders were canceled. As a result, MNT 16 billion in revenue has been cut, slipped by 16-18 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. The import of vehicles and their belongings made up the largest fall. These types of imports dropped by 21.4 percent, to USD 190.5 million. CGA highlighted that the fall is mainly due to the delay in rail traffic from Tianjin, China.

BoM lowers economic growth outlook www.zgm.mn

According to the Monetary Policy Department of the Bank of Mongolia (BoM), Mongolia’s economy will shrink in the first half of 2020 and in the second half, economic growth could reach 1.8 percent. The International Monetary Fund assumed that Mongolia’s economy will lessen by 1 percent this year. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has cut its previous assumption to 2.1 percent. The Monetary Policy Committee convened on April 13 and decided to lower the interest rate by 1 percent to 9 percentage point which is the lowest in the last 13 years. In other words, the policy rate was the same in 2007. This level was reached by holding two irregular meetings and lowering the interest rate by one unit each. Central bank officials explained that the decision has been made in an effort to prevent the risk of economic shrinkage. Director of Monetary Policy Department, Bayardavaa Bayarsaikhan said, “Lowering the policy interest rate is mainly driven by the risk of internal economy contraction.” As reported previously, BoM also decided to extend the term of the most vulnerable consumer loans by 12 months. According to the central bank, the decision is aimed at supporting economic demand by reducing the financial burden of households and mitigating the negative shock of consumption.The economic performance in the first two months of 2020 shows that the general government budget revenue reached MNT MNT 2.2 trillion, a decrease of MNT 173.7 billion or 10.6 percent year-on-year. As a result of export decline by as much as 29.5 percent, the mineral industry revenue which makes up 23.7 percent of the general budget revenue amounted to MNT 347.3 billion, contracted by 32.9 percent compared to Q1 2019.

Large gold and copper ore deposits discovered near Oyu Tolgoi www.news.mn

Rare Metal Mining, a company based in Mongolia, has discovered large gold and copper ore bodies near Oyu Tolgoi, according to a recent statement issued by the company.

The company recently signed a joint venture with MarketPeak and Rare Metal Mining after discovering a large gold and copper ore body which covers the majority of the 2,398 hectares. The mining exploration license is located in South Mongolia within the same metallic belt as Oyu Tolgoi. Precisely the land is approximately 240 km from Oyu Tolgoi, which happens to hold the largest copper deposits in Asia.

The Prime Mongolian Resources group of companies focuses on flipping and developing mines and exploration licenses, now co-owns over 1% of all the mining exploration licenses in the territory of Mongolia.

With drillings expected to commence in 2021, agreements have been signed to support the local community needs. Also, its an effort to build the company’s brand reputation within the mining industry. Prime Mongolian Resources hopes to make its first Copper and gold extractions by 2023.

Mongolia lies among the top 30 resource-rich developing nations, according to a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The nation is also rated number 47 in the world based on political stability index, which puts it above countries such as Germany ranked 62, the USA at 69, and France at 88, according to a survey conducted by the World Bank in 2018.

Incredibly, the mining statistics are also in favor of Mongolia as it has one of the highest mining success ratios. From a total of 2,796 mines and exploration licenses between 2016 and 2019, only 617 failed either through being surrendered, canceled, or by expiring, according to statistics from the Petroleum Authority of Mongolia.

The current mines and explorations licenses cover a total area of 4.8% of Mongolia’s territory. And with the nation being one of the richest in natural resources, this leaves vast unexplored potential. According to government sources, the country’s untapped mineral wealth is worth around $1.3 trillion, consisting of gold, copper, nickel, cobalt, oil, and other resources, which makes Mongolia an exciting market.

Interestingly, Mongolia’s mining fortune heavily depends on Chinese demand for copper, coal, and other resources, which account for over 90% of all its exports. For now, the outlook for commodity exporters looks promising in the near future as new mining projects begin to open up in the Asian nation.

According to UN Comtrade, in 2018, copper was among the top two export commodities for Mongolia at an estimated $2 billion. And it’s the booming mining activities that are fueling the economic development of the nation with the Asian Development Bank expecting Mongolia’s GDP to grow at 6.1% in 2020, the highest in Asia.

Copper, gold, and other resource mining have also had a positive impact on the Mongolian economy as the nation has seen substantial labor shifts where citizens have moved from the agricultural sector to the mining, manufacturing, and construction sectors. Those that have moved to the capital have shifted from pastoral occupations to construction jobs and the service sectors. Others have seasonally worked in mines around the booming southern Gobi or in the capital. (source: Ritz Herald)

Mongolia, close to China, yet far from COVID-19 www.ha-asia.com

With not even a single COVID-19 fatality reported so far, Mongolia’s containment strategy to fight the deadly coronavirus seems to have worked well for the country of 3.2 million people.

Trump to sign order to suspend immigration into U.S. www.reuters.com

(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he will be signing an executive order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

Renewables overtake coal-fired power generation for first time www.mining.com

The International Energy Agency (IEA) report on key electricity trends in the world’s developed economies, released last week, shows renewable energy overtaking coal as a source of electricity generation for the first time in 2019.

ImageCast voting machine for Mongolian election www.news.mn

Mongolia’s parliament has approved the date of polling day for the 2020 elections for the Representatives’ Khurals (councils) of the 21 provinces, the districts of capital Ulaanbaatar, and the regional soums.

UB to build more cycle paths this year www.news.mn

According to a recent survey, 39.3 percent of Ulaanbaatar’s population uses public transportation to go to work, 6.5 percent walk, 2.6 percent grab a taxi and 2.4 percent ride bicycles or mopeds. For this reason, the Ulaanbaatar City Administration is focusing on building more cycle paths in 2020 in order to cut traffic jams and reduce air pollution. The UB administration has announced plans for laying an additional 52.8 km of cycle paths in more locations.