The five-year loan will enable Monos Group to become more competitive, by supporting the certification of manufacturing capacity and improving employee skills through training. By the end of 2019 the firm aims to secure Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification and to have at least 30 new employees who are trained regularly according to GMP standards.

The optimisation of the company’s balance sheet will support Monos Group – which is owned by Mr Luvsan Khurelbaatar, a prominent Mongolian businessman, and his wife and two children – in becoming more resilient.

Anand Khurelbaatar, CEO of Monos Holding, said: “Monos has been working successfully with the EBRD, which has provided substantial support to the development of Mongolia, since the first investment agreements were signed in 2010. We are happy that the first stage of the GMP production facility project, the largest project in the Mongolian pharmaceutical sector and implemented jointly by Monos and the EBRD, has been completed and that we are now proceeding with the signing of the second-phase investment. We would like to express our gratitude to the EBRD, not only for the financial support it has provided to us, but also for being a business advisor, partner and mentor. We hope that our cooperation with the EBRD will continue to expand.”

Irina Kravchenko, EBRD Associate Director, Head of Mongolia, said: “Monos is the Bank’s longstanding client and we are very pleased with the progress the company has made in expanding its activities and introducing best manufacturing practices in Mongolia’s pharmaceutical sector. We are happy to continue supporting the firm’s growth and believe that our support will help to further strengthen its competitiveness as well as contribute to the diversification of the local economy.”

The Bank is a leading institutional investor in Mongolia. To date the EBRD has invested more than €1.42 billion in over 92 projects in the country. Its investments aim to make the local economy more competitive, integrated and resilient. According to the EBRD’s latest regional economic forecast, published in November, the Mongolian economy will grow by 2.6 per cent this year and 3.0 per cent in 2018.