17th imported Covid-19 case recorded in Mongolia www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ At today’s daily briefing of the Ministry of Health, Director of the National Center of Communicable Diseases (NCCD) D.Nyamkhuu reported that one of the 20 people who were quarantined at NCCD on April 12, after evacuation from Russia, tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Mongolia to 17.

Mongolia's c.bank cuts benchmark interest rate to 9% from 10% www.reuters.com

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, April 13 (Reuters) - Mongolia’s central bank has cut its benchmark interest rate to 9% from 10% and extended consumer loans by 12 months amid an uncertain environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen 17 cases in the country so far.

Gold program to be realized www.zgm.mn

Officials are preparing to implement the Gold national program following the cabinet’s decision to adopt a bill on providing cheap loans for gold miners and making up required financing resources from external and internal markets. It aims to include specific legal regulations in the law of the central bank. Additionally, the negotiation with Russian banks to implement the program is ongoing with a positive expectation. Implementing the gold program and providing additional funding to gold mining companies will increase the gold reserves and stabilize the tugrik. As of March, the Bank of Mongolia (BoM) purchased a total of 5.3 tons of precious metal. Of these, 3.6 tons were gold and 1.7 tons were silver. BoM purchased the gold at an average price of MNT 150,112 per gram. This is a sharp increase compared to the same period of the previous year. As the central bank reported in February, foreign exchange reserves of Mongolia stands at USD 4.3 billion, growing 21 percent from a year ago.

Number of foreign passengers lessen by 53.5 percent yoy www.zgm.mn

In response to growing fears amid the spread of COVID-19, Mongolia had shut down its borders. During the period, the number of passengers who entered through Mongolia’s border in the first quarter of 2020, has decreased by 53.5 percent year-on-year. In addition, a total of cross-boarding passengers dropped by 56.3 percent to 551,900 in duplicated numbers. In line with the border ban, more than 85.5 percent of passengers were Mongolian and the rest or 14.5 percent were foreign visitors. Travel suspension has been imposed from February 1, since then a total of 6,096 citizens have crossed the border, 30 percent of them have been evacuated by charter flights. Meanwhile, international travelers slipped by 58.7 percent to 184,900 compared to the same period of the previous year. According to the study conducted by the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCC), 44 percent of tourist companies have reduced their workforce while 38 percent of them are highly likely to cut their jobs.

Cashmere demand may decrease as tourism shrinks www.zgm.mn

The luxury product industry is on the brink of crisis as the economic outlook started to falter in 2020. The demand for washed and combed cashmere fiber is likely to decrease in Mongolia as the COVID-19 restrictions affect the tourism industry. During the financial crisis in 2009 and 2015-2016, raw cashmere price dropped by 24-25 percent and combed cashmere fiber declined by 30-31 percent respectively. This can be seen in this year, posing risk to the industry. According to research conducted among the cashmere industry, 41 percent of the entities expect the cashmere price to be more than MNT 50,000-70,000 while 18 percent of the participants assume it to be higher than MNT 90,000. However, the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI) estimates the cashmere wool price to be around MNT 60,000 based on the current situation, which might show the same result as the 2009 financial crisis. MNCC included over 50 cashmere entities in Mongolia. Approximately 24,000 tons of cashmere is been produced around the world a year. Of these, China supplies 50 percent of it or 12,000 tons and Mongolia exports 40 percent or 9,600 tons of cashmere. Last year, Mongolia exported 100 percent of its washed cashmere wool to China, 85 percent of its combed cashmere to Italy, and the rest to the UK and Korea.

Record deal to cut oil output ends price war www.bbc.com

Opec producers and allies have agreed a record oil deal that will slash global output by about 10% after a slump in demand caused by coronavirus lockdowns.

The deal, agreed on Sunday via video conference, is the largest cut in oil production ever to have been agreed.

Opec+, made up of oil producers and allies including Russia, announced plans for the deal on 9 April, but Mexico resisted the cuts.

Opec has yet to announce the deal, but individual nations have confirmed it.

The only detail to have been confirmed so far is that 9.7 million barrels per day will be cut by Opec oil producers and allies.

On Monday in Asia, oil rose over $1 a barrel in early trading with global benchmark Brent up 3.9% to $32.71 a barrel and US grade West Texas Intermediate up 6.1% to $24.15 a barrel.

Shares in Australia jumped 3.46% led by energy exporters, but Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.35% on continued concerns of poor global demand because of the spread of the coronavirus.

"This is an unprecedented agreement because it's not just between Opec and Opec+... but also the largest supplier in the world which is the US as well as other G-20 countries which have agreed to support the agreement both in reducing production and also in using up some of the surface supply by putting it into storage," Sandy Fielden, director of Oil Research at research firm Morningstar, told the BBC.

US President Donald Trump and Kuwait's energy minister Dr Khaled Ali Mohammed al-Fadhel tweeted the news, while Saudi Arabia's energy ministry and Russia's state news agency Tass both separately confirmed the deal on Sunday.

The big Oil Deal with OPEC Plus is done. This will save hundreds of thousands of energy jobs in the United States. I would like to thank and congratulate President Putin of Russia and King Salman of Saudi Arabia. I just spoke to them from the Oval Office. Great deal for all!

"By the grace of Allah, then with wise guidance, continuous efforts and continuous talks since the dawn of Friday, we now announce the completion of the historic agreement to reduce production by approximately 10 million barrels of oil per day from members of 'OPEC +' starting from 1 May 2020," wrote Dr al-Fadhel in a tweet.

Global oil demand is estimated to have fallen by a third as more than three billion people are locked down in their homes due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Prior to that, oil prices slumped in March to an 18-year-low after Opec+ failed to agree cuts.

Talks were complicated by disagreements between Russia and Saudi Arabia, but on 2 April oil prices surged after President Trump signalled that he expected the two countries to end their feud.

The initial details of the deal, outlined by Opec+ on Thursday, would have seen the group and its allies cutting 10 million barrels a day or 10% of global supply from 1 May. Another five million barrels were expected to be cut by other nations outside the group such as the US, Canada, Brazil and Norway.

It said the cuts would be eased to eight million barrels a day between July and December. Then they would be eased again to six million barrels between January 2021 and April 2022.

'A rehashed deal'
Independent oil market analyst Gaurav Sharma told the BBC that the deal agreed on Sunday was "marginally lower", compared to the 10 million barrels per day that was originally announced on Thursday. Mexico had balked at making these production cuts, which delayed the deal being signed off.

Then on Friday, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that Mr Trump had offered to make extra US cuts on his behalf, an unusual offer by the US president, who has long railed against Opec.

Mr Trump said Washington would help Mexico by picking up "some of the slack" and being reimbursed later, but he did not detail how the arrangement would work.

US backs Opec deal with cuts to boost oil price
Coronavirus: Oil prices surge on hopes of a price war truce
Oil plunges in Asia as producers start price war
"Now a rehashed deal placating Mexico has resurfaced to calm the market, yet, look closer and the doubts surface," Mr Sharma said.

"The bulk of the output cuts are predicated on Russia and Saudi Arabia cutting 2.5 million barrels per day from agreed - and somewhat inflated - levels of 11 million barrels per day. More importantly, for most of 2019, Russia displayed very poor form in complying with previously agreed Opec+ cuts. So the market is unlikely to take the announced cut at face value."

He added that forecasts for a drop in demand in the summer appear to be "dire", with even the most optimistic forecasts pointing to a reduction of 18.5 million barrels per day.

Mr Sharma said: "The announcement can stem the bleeding, but cannot prevent what is likely to be a dire summer for oil producers with the potential to drag oil prices below $20 (£16; €18)."

EU and World Bank support Mongolia’s efforts to address COVID-19 Impact www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. The European Union and the World Bank will reprioritize the use of EUR 680,000 within the Strengthening Governance in Mongolia Project, funded by the European Union, to support the Government’s efforts to respond to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) emergency and help mitigate its impact in the short and medium term.

Police inspector arrested for alleged rape of two Mongolian women after they were stopped at MCO roadblock in PJ www.malaymail.com

Seddorj: Coal price is likely to rise in the global market www.zgm.mn

Coal export revenue had declined significantly after the specific restrictions had been made by the Government in an effort of preventing coronavirus outbreak, such as closing the borders and halting coal export temporarily. However, coal export is now resumed, allowing the exporter companies to produce normally. Serdorj Renchinbyamba, Chief Executive of Tavan Tolgoi JSC, talked about the industry’s challenges and outlook.

Gold projects continue to attract fund www.zgm.mn

Erdene Resource Development Corp, one of the companies developing gold projects in Mongolia, is planning to release the feasibility studies for the Khundii gold within mid-2020. Moreover, the company had secured and attracted USD 5 million convertible loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) at the beginning of last year. CEO of Mongolian Investment Banking Group LLC Bilguun Ankhbayar said, “Although the demand for gold as a safe investment tool and the price rising is favorable for gold mining companies, the shares of companies which developing gold projects, are highly volatile.” ASX listed Xanadu Mines Ltd. has stopped drilling for the Kharmagtai project in Umnugovi province in February. In this regard, the company reconsidered its 2020 operational plans and cut management costs by AUD 1.3 million or 35 percent. Besides, the company has signed an agreement with Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMNC) to attract up to USD 7.2 million for exploration of the “Red Mountain” project. The project is scheduled to set up May and continue until November. Further, Steppe Gold LLC (STGO) successfully started the Altan Tsagaan Ovoo gold project, starting ore processing at the deposit. The company is extracting 533,000 tons of ore containing two grams of gold per ton and concentrating on leaching technology. Also, STGO is arranging to mine 60,000 ounces of gold and set to raise USD 3 million from the National Investment Fund this year.