During the meeting, ministers discussed changes to an agreement on labor made between the Government of Mongolia, the Confederation of Mongolian Trade Unions, and the Employers’ Federation. Following the discussion, they agreed to increase pension rates on January 1, 2018.

Deputy Minister of Finance Kh.Bulgantuya said that the average pension rate will be raised by 11 percent, and that 161 billion MNT will be required for pension payments.

Deputy Minister of Education, Culture, Sciences, and Sports Yo.Otgonbayar stated that regulations for the state’s student loan program have been changed. Under the previous regulations, only students who were enrolled full-time in a bachelor’s degree program were eligible to take out a student loan, but the new regulations allow part-time bachelor’s degree, master’s, and PhD students to apply for the program as well. He emphasized that the old regulations only allowed students to get a loan from a bank in their place of permanent residence, but the new regulations allow students to take out a student loan from any bank.

The Deputy Minister noted that the student’s sponsor for a loan application can now be a family member with the changes made to the program’s regulations, or a Mongolian national who wants to help the student can assist by co-signing the loan. He added that students under the age of 18 can apply for a student loan with the help of a sponsor, and that the children of herders can apply for a student loan with terms and conditions specific to herder households.

Yo.Otgonbayar stated that applications for the student loan must be accompanied by seven different documents, but that under the new regulations, a bank can accept the documents in digital format for application review. He added that 41,000 students will now have the opportunity to apply for a student loan thanks to the changes that have been made to the program.