The figure is an increase of 1.5 million tons from the same period last year, the Mongolian Customs General Administration (MCGA) said.

Coal is Mongolia's main export. The landlocked Asian country exported 33.3 million tons of coal in 2017, official data from the Mongolian Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry showed.

The country aims to increase coal exports to 40 million tons in the coming years.

Mongolia's exports increased 15.3 percent to reach over 5.2 billion U.S. dollars while imports surged 39 percent to more than 4.3 billion U.S. dollars in the January-September period, resulting in a trade surplus of 931.7 million U.S. dollars, the Mongolian Customs General Administration (MCGA) said.

The mining industry accounted for 85.9 percent of total exports, according to the MCGA.

The MCGA said that Mongolia has traded with a total of 151 countries in the first three quarters and exported its goods and services to 71 countries among them.

Mr. B.Lkhagvasuren said “BoM, in accordance with its legal obligation to coordinate payment system in Mongolia has been providing card settlement so far. Technological development in the banking sector allows to fulfill the objective of delivering simpler, faster and more secure financial services to the customers. Thus, in order to promote this type of fintech service, we are launching this campaign. Now, Mongolia’s banking system is being digitized through the introduction of digital currency and smart payment card even though we started using payment cards just recently.”

Financial sector’s quick adaptation to the technological revolution is creating an opportunity to make banking service simpler, faster and more accessible to the citizens, added the Deputy Governor.

E.Anar, Director General, Payment Systems Department at BoM emphasized that introduction of the digital signature system enables fast and secure information exchange between BoM and the commercial banks and he showed the system’s way of working with his own signature as an example.

When the Democratic Party was in power, over 90,000 people received mortgage loans in 2013-2014 under the Price Stabilising Programme implemented by the Bank of Mongolia.

Currently, a total of 270 thousand households live in Ulaanbaatar’s ger districts; 60 percent of them can afford participate in the mortgage programme: at the same time there are 34 thousand apartments which are standing empty and cannot be sold.

According to a police source, they are being investigated for money laundering and fraud.

Their arrest came after fuel prices increased by MNT 50-250 in Mongolia; ‘Magnai Trade’ is one of the country’s biggest fuel importers.

ADVANCE PASSENGER PROCESSING TO BE INSTALLED AT NEW AIRPORT

Later on, the Cabinet decided to install the Advance Passenger Processing (APP) system at the new airport in Khushig Valley. Officials viewed that APP will improve border inspections, information exchange of public bodies and national capacity to fight against terrorism. The APP confirms the passenger’s information from the Wanted Persons List of Interpol, No Fly List and other databases, such as visa, and send the information to local law enforcers within three seconds once the passenger purchases the flight ticket. The system is used in over 70 countries around the globe.

COMPLETION OF GOVERNMENT ACTION PROGRAM STANDS AT 47 PERCENT

As of the first half of this year, the completion of the Government’s Action Plan for 2016-2020 stood at 47.2 percent.

Particularly: Policy on Overcoming Economic Difficulties-55 percent;

Policy on Sustainable Economic Growth-39.8 percent;

Social Policy-46.5 percent;

Environmental and Green Development Policy-44.1 percent;

Governance Policy - 49.7 percent

All government bodies were ordered to intensify the sluggish actions and complete the target level by the end of this year. Additionally, actions that are slowing due to lack of investment will be financed from the state budget, foreign loan aids, as well as private sector investment.

Lagarde urged countries to “de-escalate” trade frictions and fix global trading rules, rather than abandon them.

“We certainly hope we don’t move in either direction of a trade war or a currency war. It will be detrimental on both accounts for all participants, Lagarde told a news conference during the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Indonesian resort island of Bali.

“And there would also be lots of innocent bystanders.”

China and the United States have slapped tit-for-tat tariffs over the past few months, rattling financial markets as investors worried the escalating trade war could knock global trade and investment.

On recent yuan declines, Lagarde said they were mainly driven by the strength of the dollar, noting that it has not depreciated as much against a basket of currencies.

“We’re seeing more and more countries, China included, let their currencies fluctuate,” Lagarde said.

The yuan currency CNY=CFXS has faced strong selling pressure this year, losing over 8 percent between March and August at the height of market worries, though it has since pared losses as authorities stepped up support.

A U.S. Treasury official on Monday repeated that the Trump administration was concerned about the yuan’s recent weakening as the department prepares a semi-annual report on currency manipulation due out next week.

US President Donald Trump has accused China of deliberately manipulating its currency to gain a trade advantage, claims Beijing consistently rejected.

“We have supported the move of China toward (currency) flexibility,” she said, adding that the IMF has encouraged Chinese authorities to “go down that path.”

Lagarde urged China to follow through on the IMF’s recommendation to continue moving toward a system that allows the yuan to move flexibly.

She declined to comment on the recent market rout, but said U.S. equities and overall stock prices “in general have been extremely high.”

Additional reporting by Yawen Chen; Editing by Shri Navaratnam

The technical assistance project will help strengthen water governance and river basin water planning in Mongolia, empowering authorities to address water challenges and improve decision making on strategic investments necessary to support growth, health, and the well-being of communities.

The Government of Mongolia, through the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, will help develop the capacity of the river basin council and river basin authority, as well as other key stakeholders to manage water resources better through environmentally sustainable and disaster resilience efforts.

The technical assistance project is funded by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR) and the High-Level Technology (HLT) Fund. Financed by the Government of Japan, JFPR was established in May 2000, providing direct grant assistance to the poorest and most vulnerable groups of ADB’s developing member countries while fostering long-term social and economic development. Over the past 17 years, JFPR has supported over 48 projects in Mongolia dealing with poverty alleviation, livelihoods, and the environment.

Since its inception in 2017, the HLT Fund has been providing grant support to 15 projects, including three in Mongolia. It seeks to address various development challenges in ADB’s developing member countries by promoting the integration of technology and innovative solutions into ADB-financed and administered projects.

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members—48 from the region. In 2017, ADB operations totaled $32.2 billion, including $11.9 billion in cofinancing.

Main Mongolian oil importing companies, including Shunkhlai LLC and Magnai Trade LLC have raised their retail prices of gasoline and diesel by 50-250 Mongolian tugriks (0.02-0.10 U.S. dollars) per liter, local media reported on Tuesday citing the Mongolian Petroleum Consumer's Association.

Currently, the retail price for a liter of gasoline brands AI-92 and AI-95 in Mongolia is at 1,890 and 2,220 Mongolian tugriks (0.74 and 0.87 U.S. dollars), respectively. The diesel fuel in the country is at a cost of 2,250 Mongolian tugriks (0.88 U.S. dollars) per liter.

The importers have raised the retail prices of both gasoline and diesel for the third time so far this year.

The latest hike is directly related to the depreciation of the tugrik against the U.S. dollar, according to oil importing companies.

The U.S. dollar exchange rate against the tugrik has reached a historical high in the past few days, with the exchange rate standing at more than 2550.

According to governmental data, the East Asian country imported nearly 1.5 million tons of oil products last year.