Russia exports record amount of gas to energy-hungry Europe www.rt.com

Gazprom, Russia’s largest natural gas exporter, has again increased its deliveries to Europe. The company sent 5.8 percent more blue fuel to the continent through July compared to last year.
Gas deliveries to Germany jumped 12.3 percent. Austria bought 48.3 percent more Russian gas. Shipments to the Netherlands were 53.8 percent higher, and to Croatia up by 40.1 percent. Gazprom also exported more gas to Denmark, Poland, and France in the first seven months of 2018.

Govt in talks with IMF to settle 2019 mortgage program financing www.zgm.mn

Ministry of Construction and Urban Development (MCUD) is aiming to reduce mortgage loan down payment to 25 percent from 30. The down payment reduction is expected to increase the number of households capable of repaying mortgage loan to about 31,000 according to an official close to the matter. A supply and demand study, conducted amongst the 152 khoroos (smallest administrative unit of Mongolia) of Ulaanbaatar, shows that around 252,000 households are interested in applying for mortgage program, of which only 13,000 households meet the criteria. According to the MCUD, over 33,000 accommodations are currently ready for sale in Ulaanbaatar city. 2018 State Budget allocated around MNT 120 billion for the mortgage program. Also, mortgage lenders are expected to pump MNT 220 billion to the program through interest payments this year. In other words, around MNT 340 billion can be financed for the program in 2018, highlighted the Minister of Finance Khurelbaatar Chimed.

Mongolia hosts historic FIFA Forward Workshop www.fifa.com

A historic FIFA Forward Workshop was held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from 29-30 July, with 11 Member Associations (MAs) from the East and South East Asian region taking part.

The first FIFA event hosted by the Mongolian Football Federation (MFF) since its inception in 1959 saw two days of productive activities, which highlighted the benefits that funding from the FIFA Forward Programme can bring to MAs.

The workshop, divided into several sessions over the two days, included discussions on the first cycle of the FIFA Forward Development Programme, and what the future of FIFA Forward looks like in the 2019-2022 cycle. There was also a case study into the Icelandic Football Association's use of FIFA Forward funds, presented by Geir Thorsteinsson (the former president of the Icelandic FA) and discussions on women's football and how to correctly submit a FIFA Forward application.

“On behalf of the entire Mongolian football family, I very much appreciate the fact that FIFA has decided to organise such a prestigious event in my country," said Ganbaatar Amgalanbaatar, MFF President. "I am also happy that the FIFA Workshop provided very important information on the Forward Development Programme which has really enhanced the development of football throughout the world, including Mongolia.

"The financial support provided to the MFF has enabled us to support our national teams in nine age categories including women’s and futsal. We have also prioritised women’s football as a key goal in our strategic objectives. I would like to end by saying that MFF and FIFA are one team with one goal."

Representing FIFA in Mongolia were Sanjeevan Balasingam, FIFA's Regional MA Director (Asia and Oceania), Daniel O'Toole, from FIFA's Financial Governance Programme, Juerg Nepfer, FIFA's Head of Technical Development Services and Geir Thorsteinsson, member of FIFA's Associations Committee.

Member Associations in attendance

​China PR
Guam
Hong Kong
Japan
Korea Republic
Korea DPR
Macau
Mongolia
Philippines
Thailand
Vietnam
The participants found the workshop useful, and fully appreciated the opportunity to discuss the benefits of the FIFA Forward Programme.

"The HKFA has greatly benefited from this new FIFA initiative – the Forward Development Programme, in recent years," said Vincent Yuen, General Secretary of the Hong Kong FA. "On this occasion we are not only being given the chance to review the whole programme together with FIFA and fellow MAs but also have received information on the enhanced and improved version of the programme. The workshop is entirely enlightening and the interaction is informative. I cannot thank FIFA enough for this."

The workshop stressed the importance of strategic planning for all MAs, making clear that their respective plans would form key priorities to be contained in the Contract of Agreed Objectives (CAOs). The CAOs will be executed along with FIFA for the upcoming cycle (2019-2022) of the FIFA Forward Development Programme.

During the workshop, there were engaging discussions in bilateral meetings between each of the 11 MAs, which focused on the drafting of the CAOs for the 2019-2022 period.

"Continuing on from the 2017 edition of the Forward Workshops, we were able to learn about practices and various experiences of different member associations which was very helpful," said Sean An from the Korean FA. "In particular, Iceland Football Association's case study provided an inspirational and unique insight of how the FIFA Forward can be utilised as a foundation in leaving a legacy."

The workshop in Mongolia is just one of a series of global workshops organised by the FIFA Member Associations Division, to ensure the 211 MAs and six confederations are kept up-to-date on the FIFA Forward Programme.

ADB Asian Development Bank : Warns About Fundraising Scams in Mongolia www.4-traders.com

ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA (2 August 2018) - The Asian Development Bank's (ADB) Office of Anticorruption and Integrity (OAI) advises the public to be aware of scams soliciting money fraudulently and claiming an affiliation with ADB.

US Steel tumbles as investors seek more from tariff windfall www.bloomberg.com

U.S. Steel Corp. fell the most among peers as a mixed bag of quarterly results left investors wondering if they would see any real benefit from trade policies that have pushed up U.S. prices of the metal.

Altansoyombo bag provided with renewable energy www.montsame.mn

Gobi-Altai /MONTSAME/ Operation of solar power station commenced under testing in Altansoyombo bag (smallest administration unit) in Tonkhil soum, Gobi-Altai aimag. Laying its foundation in 2017, Erchim Electrade LLC completed the construction work with investment of MNT 166 million.

Shiveekhuren-Ceke railway to be commissioned in 2019 www.gogo.mn

During its regular session on August 1, the Cabinet instructed relevant ministers to take measures concerning the construction of the 13 kilometer Shiveekhuren-Ceke port railway to be completed by the end of 2019. It was decided that structural construction of the port railway will begin in the third quarter of 2018.

The Central Bank of Mongolia expects to purchase 20% more gold in 2018 www.market-intel.mn

Key event: The Central Bank of Mongolia reported its gold purchases have reached to 8.3 tonnes, up by 14% y-o-y basis, and is further expecting that this year annual purchases will be 20% higher than that of the previous year.

Implications: As set by amendments to the 2014 Mineral Law, the stipulation that gold miners must pay royalties of 2.5% for selling to the central bank will expire on 01 January 2019. Whether it is further extended or not, the gold miners may need to sell their gold before the expiration date in order not to expose themselves to a higher royalty.

Outlook: This year Mongolia’s international reserves and foreign exchange rates are expected to be boosted by the significant gold purchase of the central bank. This is largely thanks to the increased production by gold miners and daily gold purchase rates of the Central Bank which are set to be in line with that of the London Metal Exchange.

It was reported that the Central Bank has delivered their recommendations to the draft revision of the taxation law, proposed by the Ministry of Finance, which includes a recommendation to extend the effective period for the royalty payment of 2.5% for the gold miners who sold their gold to the Central Bank or authorized commercial banks. The expiration date for the current rate is 01 January 2019 and this became effective on 24 January 2014 as per the amendments to the Mineral Law.

Due to the prolonged exchange rate volatility and the prevalence of gold smuggling in Mongolia, the government and the regulators have been subject to fierce criticism and political pressure for a number of years by the business community and the general public.

However, since the amendments to the Mineral Law in 2014, the gold purchase by the Central Bank continuously increased year by year which supported Mongolia’s international reserves and maintained foreign exchange rates until today.

Lately, the Central Bank has been taking various measures to increase gold purchases. Those measures include providing working capital to the gold miners through the “Gold-2” program, buying gold from local producers at the international rate, and running public campaigns such as “From local gold to the National Treasury” to educate stakeholders regarding the importance of selling gold to the central bank.

Additionally, it was reported that the Central Bank is aiming to set up approved gold verifying and buying centers (“Refineries”) locally which would be scattered around the country as branch offices of the Central Bank. It is understood that once those local refineries are established, the local miners will not need to come to Ulaanbaatar to refine and sell their gold. This would save a lot of time and money for the local gold miners and boost the Bank’s gold purchases.

Beyond this, the Mongolian Gold Producers Association is of the opinion that the government should revise its two-tier corporate taxation system if the country of USD 11 billion economy is to support its gold production and boost its international reserves. Currently, Mongolia has a corporate tax rate of 10% for business entities if their taxable income falls below MNT 3 billion, the marginal rate increases to 25% beyond this threshold. The Mongolian gold mining industry believes that the threshold is too low. As it is barely the equivalent of selling 30 kg of gold, the miners are likely to be forced to sell their gold to the Central Bank through individual miners, known as “ninja miners”, in order to reduce their tax burden.

If these regulatory hurdles are not resolved in favor of the gold miners they may face tough legal and market circumstances next year. This could gravely damage Mongolia’s gold industry and international reputation, just as was done by the Windfall Profit Tax Law and, The Law on the Prohibition of Exploration and Mining in Headwaters of Rivers, Protected Water Basins Zones and Forested Areas, also known as “Long Named Law”, in 2006 and 2009 respectively.

Armed Forces teams partaking in International Army Games www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The International Army Games which annually organized by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation kicked off on July 28 at Alabino military training ground in the Moscow region.

Baby from Mongolia to get life-saving surgery in Denver www.kdvr.com

DENVER -- This week a 10-month-old baby girl from Mongolia will get life-saving, open-heart surgery at Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children. It’s a surgery that is not available in her home country.