Nalaikh International Logistics Park to be established www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ At its regular meeting on May 19, Ulaanbaatar city council approved a draft resolution to set up an international logistics park as part of the building material wholesale and retail center to be built in Nalaikh district.

Mongolia exports 5.2 million tons of coal in 2020 www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. As of May 18, 2020, Mongolia has exported coal worth USD 412 million or 5.2 million tons which decreased by 2.6 times from the same period of the previous year.

Mongolia reports 2 more recoveries from COVID-19 www.akipress.com

Mongolia reported no new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, with the number of confirmed ones standing at 140, Xinhua reports citing the National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD).

Projects worth USD 66 million implemented within UN Development Assistance Framework www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Joint UN and Government of Mongolia Steering Committee meeting to review the implementation of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2017-2021 for Mongolia in 2019 was held on May 18 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Minister of Foreign Affairs D.Tsogtbaatar, UN Resident Coordinator in Mongolia Tapan Mishra and officials from relevant ministries and agencies and the UN main and specialized bodies attended the meeting, exchanging views on results, achievements, challenges in projects and programs being realized by the UN in Mongolia and issues to be concerned in the future.

The UN specialized organizations that operate in Mongolia have developed and are implementing the UNDAF 2017-2021 document with a view to cooperate with integrated strategic direction.

Within the UN Development Assistance Framework 2017-2021 for Mongolia, the UN specialized bodies have fulfilled 109 activities in total with financing of USD 66.49 million in the past, providing tangible assistance in upgrading legal environment with three principle directions and developing strategies of the main sectors such as environment, health and education.

In particular, thanks to the collaboration within the objective “Promoting inclusive growth and sustainable management of natural resources”, western aimags have developed local development plan with concrete assessment-based ecosystem services, and as a result of the model projects to take a total of 5.7 million hectares of land under state and local special protection and to increase energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emission declined by 5220 tons in 2019.

During the meeting, Foreign Minister D.Tsogtbaatar expressed gratitude to the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Mongolia and the UN main and specialized bodies, which have been rendering support and collaborating in ongoing measures by the Mongolian Government on the prevention and fight against Covid-19 pandemic.

Highlighting that actions reflected within the Development Assistance Framework have made significant contributions in fulfilling development goals of Mongolia, the Minister noted innovative participation by domestic partner organizations and stakeholders is vital for effective implementation of the framework for its two remaining years.

UN Resident Coordinator in Mongolia Tapan Mishra emphasized the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has brought a necessity to reorganize the UN development system and the UN is intending to enhance the benefits of cooperation with its member states with the help of forming responsible and productive team of countries. Mr. Tapan Mishra also noted that the currently-running UN survey on social and economic impacts of COVID-19 would serve as a basic assessment to define further scope of the sustainable development cooperation.

Within the framework of development system reform initiated by UN Secretary General A.Gutierrez, preparation works to elevate the UN Assistance Framework to Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework are underway with the aims of providing support to countries to achieve their Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, a transition road map was presented at the meeting, with the participants exchanging their views on it.

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.