ADB Supports Mongolia's First Green-Certified Residential Complex Built by the Private Sector www.adb.org

 The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a $30 million loan (in togrog equivalent) with Tavan Bogd Holdings LLC to finance the construction of Mongolia's first green-certified residential complex developed by the private sector. The financing will help expand sustainable housing, reduce energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions, and introduce internationally recognized green building standards to Mongolia's residential real estate market.

"This project shows how sustainable urban development and private sector investment can work hand in hand," said ADB Country Director for Mongolia John Juhyun Jeong. "By supporting this landmark development, ADB is helping establish a new benchmark for energy-efficient housing, while demonstrating that green construction can deliver both environmental and commercial benefits."

The financing will support the Gerlug Green Apartments project, a four-tower residential development in Ulaanbaatar's Khan-Uul District comprising 252 units. The project is targeting Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies (EDGE) standard certification, an international green building standard requiring at least 20% savings in energy, water, and materials compared with conventional buildings. Gerlug Green Apartments project is expected to achieve 34.6% energy savings, 30.6% water savings, and 38.1% embodied carbon reduction, substantially exceeding the EDGE standard threshold.

“We believe the private sector plays an important role in providing homes that meet the evolving expectations of Mongolian families and create lasting benefits for communities,” said Tavan Bogd Group President Baatarsaikhan Tsagaach. “Our partnership with ADB reflects our commitment to advancing higher standards in residential development and supporting a more resilient and sustainable housing sector in the country.”

Mongolia's residential buildings are energy-intensive, relying heavily on coal-fired heating during the winter season. The project's green features, including advanced insulation, energy-efficient lighting, and smart energy meters, will lower energy costs and contribute to Mongolia's 23% emissions reduction target by 2030.

ADB is supporting Mongolia in promoting and assessing green building opportunities and integrating energy-efficient design measures in public and private sector buildings through its technical assistance on Accelerating Climate Action, Innovation and Private Sector Development. The technical assistance helped Tavan Bogd Holdings LLC adopt internationally recognized green building standards.

During construction, the project is expected to create about 1,800 jobs, while increasing opportunities for women in technical professions and internships. As Mongolia's first privately developed green-certified residential complex, the project is expected to establish a replicable model for green housing and encourage wider adoption of energy-efficient building measures across the country.

Tavan Bogd Holdings LLC is the investment holding company of Tavan Bogd Group, one of Mongolia's largest and most diversified private sector conglomerates.

ADB is a leading multilateral development bank supporting sustainable, inclusive, and resilient growth across Asia and the Pacific. Working with its members and partners to solve complex challenges together, ADB harnesses innovative financial tools and strategic partnerships to transform lives, build quality infrastructure, and safeguard our planet. Founded in 1966, ADB is owned by 69 members—50 from the region.

Mongolia finishes fourth with 26 medals at World Nomad Games www.asianews.network

The Mongolian team won a total of 26 medals at the VI World Nomad Games, held in Bishkek and Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan, on August 31-September 6, 2026.

Mongolia was represented by 135 athletes competing in 27 sports, and finished with 4 gold, 4 silver, and 18 bronze medals, placing fourth among 106 participating countries in the overall standings.

In the final days of the Games, Mongolian athletes added more medals to the tally. In the Iranian traditional wrestling discipline ‘Pahlavani’, which featured competitors from 36 countries, B.Bat-Orshikh won a bronze medal in the men’s +90 kg category.

Mongolian athletes also earned two bronze medals in the intellectual game Togyzkumalak, with Kh.Yermanat and Sh.Bolatbyek finished among the medalists.

The VI World Nomad Games brought together 2,355 athletes from 106 countries, competing in 43 sports disciplines.

Athletes from 29 countries won medals during the Games, while competitors from 12 countries claimed gold medals. The host nation Kyrgyzstan, followed by Kazakhstan and Russia, finished in the top three places, while Uzbekistan ranked fifth.

The VII World Nomad Games are scheduled to be held in Kazan, Russia, in 2028.

New flight routes explored with Hokkaido airports www.ubpost.mn

New Ulaanbaatar International Airport LLC (NUBIA), which operates Chinggis Khaan International Airport, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hokkaido Airports Co., Ltd. to expand cooperation between the two countries’ aviation sectors, with an eye toward opening new flight routes connecting Mongolia and Hokkaido.

Under the memorandum, Hokkaido Airports, which operates New Chitose, Wakkanai, Kushiro, Hakodate, Asahikawa, Obihiro and Memanbetsu airports, will work with NUBIA on airport management, human resource development in civil aviation, exchange of experience, and the creation and promotion of new air routes.

NUBIA called the agreement an important step in elevating cooperation between the Mongolian and Japanese aviation sectors, adding that it would support tourism, economic ties and human resource development in both countries.

Chinggis Khaan International Airport, located roughly 50 kilometers southwest of Ulaanbaatar, began operations in July 2021 after years of delay, replacing the capital’s former Buyant-Ukhaa airport. It was built with Japanese ODA loan financing and is run by NUBIA, a joint venture in which Japan Airport Management LLC, backed by Mitsubishi Corporation, Narita International Airport Corporation, Japan Airport Terminal Co. and JALUX, holds a 51 percent stake, with the remaining 49 percent held by the Mongolian state-owned Khushig Valley Airport LLC, under a 15-year concession contract.

Hokkaido Airports was established in 2019 as a consortium of 17 Hokkaido-based and outside companies under one of Japan’s largest airport privatization concessions, bundling the operation of seven airports across the region, including New Chitose, the country’s fifth-largest airport by passenger traffic. Hokkaido is one of Japan’s most visited destinations among Mongolian and other international tourists, known for its winter sports, hot springs and seasonal scenery, but currently has no direct air link with Ulaanbaatar.

Government Cuts Staffing at State-Owned Enterprises by 30% www.montsame.mn

At its meeting today, the Government approved a resolution on measures concerning state-owned enterprises, launching the implementation of the Law on Governance of State and Local Government-Owned Companies.

Under the resolution, staffing at state-owned enterprises will be reduced by 30 percent, 25 organizations will be removed from the state budget, and 108–324 positions will be reorganized and optimized, resulting in MNT 30 billion in savings on salaries and other recurrent expenditures.

In preparation for the implementation of the Law on Governance of State and Local Government-Owned Companies from January 1, 2027, the Government approved, as annexes to the resolution, lists of state-owned enterprises to be reorganized as state-owned companies, state-owned public service organizations, and entities to be dissolved.

Under the resolution, 25 state-owned enterprises will be subject to consolidation or dissolution. As of 2025, these organizations had a combined workforce of 2,162 employees and an annual payroll of MNT 73.2 billion.

According to preliminary estimates, overlapping management, administrative and service functions will be consolidated, while organizational structures and staffing levels will be optimized. Centralizing office facilities, transport services, administrative support, procurement, information technology and other administrative and service functions is expected to reduce recurrent expenditures and improve the efficiency of budget funding.

According to the 2025 report, a total of 65 state-owned enterprises were operating with 7,030 employees. Of these, 26 fully finance their expenditures through operating revenues, while the remaining 39 receive a combined MNT 153.1 billion in subsidies from the state budget.

Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman Arrives in Mongolia for Official Visit www.montsame.mn

 A delegation led by Chairman of the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Tran Thanh Man arrived in Mongolia today for an official visit at the invitation of Chairman of the State Great Khural of Mongolia Byambatsogt Sandag.

The delegation was welcomed at Chinggis Khaan International Airport by Bayarmaa Judag, Member of the State Great Khural and Chair of the Mongolia-Vietnam Parliamentary Friendship Group, Khulan Ganbaatar, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Mongolia to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and other officials.

Chairman Tran Thanh Man’s official visit to Mongolia will take place from September 9 to 11, 2026.

During the visit, Speaker Byambatsogt and Chairman Tran Thanh Man will hold official talks and sign cooperation documents at the parliamentary level.

According to the Open Parliament Office of the State Great Khural, the visit, the first by a Chairman of Vietnam’s National Assembly to Mongolia in 23 years, is of significant importance for strengthening and developing the Comprehensive Partnership between Mongolia and Vietnam, particularly by deepening inter-parliamentary cooperation and cooperation between the two countries’ parliamentary friendship groups and parliamentary offices.

1% of Mongolia's Population Are Foreign Nationals www.montsame.mn

Of the population residing within the territory of Mongolia, 99% are citizens of Mongolia and 1% are foreign nationals.

The National Statistics Office of Mongolia (NSO) reported that 18 people are stateless, without citizenship of any country.

According to the 2025 census, the number of foreign nationals residing in Mongolia for six months or longer stood at 35,446, up 58.1% from 2020. Between 2020 and 2025, the composition of foreign nationals living in Mongolia shifted as the share of Chinese citizens rose from 41.7% to 60.1%, correspondingly reducing the share of nationals from other countries. For example, citizens of Russia, South Korea, and the United States each accounted for around 10% in the 2020 census, but their shares fell this time to between 3.2% and 8.5%.

While most foreign nationals living in Mongolia are concentrated in the capital, that share has declined compared with the previous census (from 77.9% to 64%), even as the number of foreign nationals has risen in some provinces. Specifically, the growing numbers of foreign nationals living in Dornogobi (from 1% to 10.9%), Tuv (from 0.6% to 5%), and Umnugobi (from 5.6% to 7.3%) provinces are linked to rising local economic activity, particularly in connection with mining, infrastructure, and industrial zones. By contrast, foreign nationals are settling in smaller numbers in Uvs, Uvurkhangai, Gobi-Altai, Arkhangai, Bayankhongor, and Bulgan aimags, which have smaller populations and lower economic activity.

According to the 2025 Interim Population and Housing Census, the citizen population of Mongolia stood at 3,589,826. Ethnic Khalkhs make up 83.4% of the country's resident population, down 0.4 percentage points from the previous census, while the share of ethnic Kazakhs remained unchanged at 3.8%.

Mongolian National Audit Office launches audit of COP17 funding and expenditure www.gogo.mn

The Mongolian National Audit Office has launched a financial and compliance audit of the funding and expenditure related to the 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (COP17), which was held in Mongolia.

The audit was launched on September 8, 2026, by D.Bayarsaikhan, Director of the Special Purpose Audit Office and Lead Auditor. He briefed representatives of the audited organizations on the objectives, scope, plans, and programs of the audit.

The audit will examine the sources of funding used to organize COP17, as well as the planning and budgeting processes, compliance of budget expenditures with relevant laws and regulations, and the results of funding and expenditure.

The audit will cover the National Committee for Organizing COP17, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, Tourism and Youth, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Department of State Property Policy and Regulation, the Office of the Mayor of the Capital City, and other relevant organizations.

It will examine decisions, policy documents, operational reports, primary financial records, procurement contracts, and other relevant documents issued by these organizations between 2023 and 2026. The audit will also assess compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

At the opening of the audit, it was emphasized that representatives of the audited and participating organizations should provide complete and accurate documents and information required for the audit and fully cooperate with the audit team.

UK-Mongolia B2B Networking Reception in UB with the British Ambassador and John Grogan MBCC www.britishbusinesscentre.com

Mongolia's NBFIs Are Having Their Breakout Funding Run www.capitalmarkets.mn

Five years ago, Mongolian NBFIs were barely on the radar of international investors. Recently, several of them have landed on term sheets from IFC, FMO, and a Singapore-based fintech fund, and one has issued a bond in South Korea.

International investors have quietly moved close to $100 million into Mongolia's NBFI sector since the start of 2025, spread across development finance institutions, impact funds, and Asian debt platforms most Mongolian companies had never had access to before. It's a small number by global standards. In a sector that barely registered on foreign radars five years ago, it's a signal. 

Why now
The timing isn't an accident. Mongolia's NBFI sector has been the fastest-growing corner of the country's financial system for years: loan books expanding at a 38% CAGR since 2021, nearly double the 21% pace of the banking sector, even as NBFIs still account for less than 10% of total banking-sector assets. That's a sector with room to run and a growth rate that's hard to find elsewhere in frontier credit markets.

It's also a sector that just got a lot more disciplined. Between early 2025 and January 2026, Mongolia's Financial Regulatory Commission and the Bank of Mongolia rolled out the most consequential set of NBFI rules in the sector's history: a ban on raising capital from domestic banks and money lenders, a 60% debt-to-income cap on consumer loans, and a 20% minimum capital adequacy requirement. For operators without an alternative funding source, that domestic funding ban is existential. For the ones who'd already built international capital relationships, digital-first lending models, and governance that meets outside disclosure standards, it's a moat.

Three companies illustrate how that capital found its way in.

Invescore NBFI JSC (MSE:INV) was Mongolia's first NBFI to seriously court foreign capital, and 2025 was the year that bet started paying off at scale. The company, celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2026, secured $58 million in disclosed financing during 2025 from a run of European and Asian institutions: $5 million from Dutch impact investor Triple Jump, $16 million total from EMF Microfinance Fund, $20 million from the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO), $5 million from Triodos Investment Management, and $25 million into its Pocket NBFI subsidiary from Singapore-based Helicap. Five separate international backers, five separate votes of confidence, inside a single year. That momentum carries into London this year: InvesCore's parent company, ICFG Limited, is the presenting partner of the Mongolia Investment Forum: London 2026. 
LendMN NBFI JSC (MSE:LEND) has spent since 2017 building an AI-driven underwriting model that turns loan approvals into a mobile-app transaction, and its funding base now reflects a similarly diversified, tech-investor logic. The company drew $41.81 million in international funding across 2025 and into 2026: a $20 million facility from Lendable Asset Management in two tranches, $10 million from Kilde across six disbursements, $9 million from Alternative Investments VCC, and additional financing from DWM Asset Management, on top of an earlier $21.4 million Series B led by IFC and AEON Financial Service. It's also one of the more interesting impact stories in the sector: 72% of its MSME borrowers are female-owned, and 92% of clients reported rising income or sales in 2025. AND Global Pte. Ltd., LendMN's parent, is also a presenting partner of the Mongolia Investment Forum: London 2026.
Sendly NBFI JSC (MSE:SEND) took a slightly different route. Rather than raising equity or drawing debt facilities, Sendly went to the capital markets directly, launching a secured 24-month public bond on the MSE, and then becoming the first Mongolian company to issue an "Arirang" bond in South Korea, a 10-year, KRW 2 billion (~$1.45 million) instrument. A Bond 3.0 issuance is already in preparation for this September. Sendly will also take part in the Mongolia Investment Forum: London 2026 as a participant.
The bigger pattern
None of this happened in isolation. It's the product of a sector reaching the scale and governance maturity where international capital starts paying attention, and a regulatory environment now actively selecting for exactly that combination. The NBFIs still growing share three things: international funding pipelines, digital-first models, and disclosure standards that meet outside scrutiny. That's a narrower field than it was two years ago, but a more investable one.

For a market this early in its international story, three companies raising close to $100 million combined, opening a Korean bond market, and building out MSME lending at a 30%+ annualized re-lending rate isn't a rounding error. It's what a breakout funding run in a frontier credit market actually looks like. 

Mongolians wait hours for fuel as reliance on Russia bites www.afp.com

After a five-hour wait for petrol, Mongolian pensioner Nasanjargal is still 10 places from the pump, with dozens of cars behind him in a queue snaking into the arid steppe.

“Fuel is unavailable, there are huge queues everywhere,” he told AFP from his motionless Toyota sedan after a 1½ hour drive from the capital Ulaanbaatar.

Sandwiched between Russia and China, landlocked Mongolia has historically imported more than 95 per cent of its petrol from its vast northern neighbour.

But Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil facilities have disrupted supplies in recent months, triggering a relentless fuel shortage that has depleted Mongolia’s limited stockpiles and raised questions about its energy security.

The shortages have roiled logistics, lifted costs and ruined the plans of many Mongolians accustomed to taking advantage of the short summer season with a road trip in the picturesque countryside.

Nasanjargal, a former police officer who goes by one name, said he was “out of options”.

“I headed out this way hoping things might be better out in the rural areas,” he said, his young granddaughter shifting impatiently in the back seat. “It’s the same story everywhere.”
The prolonged crisis has increased pressure on the Mongolian authorities to ensure unfettered supply of fuel.

Government responses have included daily individual caps on fuel purchases, a ban on stockpiling and an alternating licence-plate scheme intended to reduce the number of cars filling up.

But the rationing has frustrated many ordinary citizens, with Nasanjargal telling AFP that the lines are “very troublesome and extremely difficult overall”.

Beyond crowded Ulaanbaatar – notorious for its daily traffic – fuel shortages present other challenges for rural, tourism-dependent regions.

Munkhchuluun Samdannyam, the governor of central Dundgovi province, told AFP that his local government’s “first priority” was the needs of tourists and herders.

“Under Gobi (Desert) conditions, herders do not draw water from wells by hand. They mostly use motors and pumps.

“And to operate those motors, gasoline is necessary,” Munkhchuluun said on the sidelines of an international summit on desertification hosted by Mongolia in August.

“For everyone else, we are trying to manage and coordinate the situation as best we can,” he said.

Diversifying
Mongolia’s vast size and relatively small population of 3.6 million means that the government has limited resources for building the necessary infrastructure, Telmen Altanshagai, an independent policy analyst specialising in Mongolia’s energy security, told AFP.

“As geopolitics shifted, the country started talks with Kazakhstan on the trade of petroleum products,” Telmen said.

“More recently, the current crisis forced the government to import fuel from South Korea and China,” she added.

But as diversification of imports becomes a political imperative, Telmen said, “it doesn’t address the fundamental question of energy dependency” on foreign providers.

In a potential breakthrough for Mongolia’s energy security, work is under way on the country’s first domestic oil refinery, with operations targeted to begin in 2028.

Prime Minister Nyam-Osor Uchral, in office since March, has staked his reputation on his government’s ability to manage the crisis, saying in August that he was “fully responsible for overseeing the oil industry”.

But in bustling Ulaanbaatar, electric-vehicle charging infrastructure remains limited, let alone across the vast, sparsely populated steppe.

The country’s logistics still rely heavily on diesel-powered trucks, leaving freight operators vulnerable to disruptions that have been increasingly acute this summer.

They have also raised costs for operators of logistics networks.

“When I came into the city yesterday, fuel was virtually impossible to find,” said Enkhbayar Myanganbayar, a 25-year-old truck driver.

“Regarding diesel fuel prices, in just the past 15 days, prices jumped,” he said.

“Previously, it cost around 4,000 tugrik (S$1.40) to 4,200 tugrik per litre, but now it’s over 4,600 and pushing close to 4,700 tugrik.”

The volatile supply situation has weighed on ordinary drivers, with prices and availability fluctuating at each petrol station across the country.

In one grassroots effort to ease headaches, an online platform has been created to allow users to upload real-time updates on availability, prices and waiting times.

But many pumps have simply closed up.

When AFP returned to the petrol station where Nasanjargal had been waiting two days later, it was only open to emergency vehicles. AFP