The Company Mongolian Mining Corporation (MMC) is a coking coal production and export company headquartered in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and was the first local coking coal producer to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The company participates in the mining, processing and manufacturing of coal products, and owns and operates an open-pit coking coal mine at the Ukhaa Khudag deposit in the Tavan…
A new investment law passed in October 2013 sent a clear message about the government’s pro-business reform ambitions, placing foreign and local investors on equal footing. New “tax stabilisation certificates” now offer an alternative to the previous investment agreements by freezing the relevant taxes for a period of up to 22.5 years. While the state mechanisms for such benefits were set up…
Landlocked between two large markets, Mongolia has long used an activist trade policy to develop “third neighbours” and improve its terms of trade. The 1965 International Convention on Transit Trade of Landlocked States already grants it access to third markets, although quotas and transit tariffs are still subject to negotiations. Over the past decade, however, China has largely cornered the market…
While public spending has been key to maintaining growth in 2012 and 2013, its funding has relied on a ramp-up in foreign-currency (FC) debt. Constrained by the Fiscal Stability Law (FSL), which caps public debt at 40% of GDP, the government subsequently channelled expansionary quasi-fiscal spending through the Development Bank of Mongolia (DBM). Rising Leverage The Ministry of Economic Development…
Accounting for 95% of all registered enterprises and around half of employment (910,000 workers), Mongolia’s 90,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are a crucial fabric linking large resource projects to the domestic economy. Indeed, the National Development and Innovation Committee estimates that every $1 invested in mining creates a $1.84 multiplier effect in other sectors like infrastructure,…
Foreign direct investment (FDI) financed the current account deficit (CAD) in the boom years, but the FDI drop since 2012 has compounded balance of payment (BoP) pressures. While the CAD has narrowed, the fall in FDI inflows has sustained the tugrik’s devaluation. Expansionary monetary policy from the Bank of Mongolia (BOM) helped provide a soft landing for the economy and prevent an economic crisis,…
In some ways, Mongolia can be considered “well-banked” in terms of banking access. It has one of the highest branch per capita ratios in the world. At 69 per 100,000 (according to World Bank 2012 numbers), it has far more banking outlets for each inhabitant than its peers and neighbours: South Korea is at 18; China, 8; and Russia, 38. Additionally, over 80% of Mongolians have bank accounts. In…
Banks in Mongolia saw weaker profits in 2015 as one of Asia’s fastest growing economies cools, triggering higher borrowing costs and an increase in non-performing loans (NPLs), while credit rating agencies are also watching the banks’ vulnerability to China's continued economic slowdown. Recent downgrades in Mongolia's sovereign credit rating following falls in commodity prices have added more…
The Company Established in 1924, three years after Mongolia’s communist revolution, APU – which comes from the name Arkhi Pivo Undaa, meaning “vodka, beer, drinks” – is the country’s largest beverage producer and its first national brand. APU was partially privatised in 1992 with 51% of its shares retained by the state and 49% floated on the Mongolian Stock Exchange. In 2001 the remainder…
The Company Gobi was established in 1981 with Japanese economic and technical assistance to process natural goat and camel hair and produce cashmere and camel wool products from these fibres. The company has since developed into one of the five largest cashmere producers in the world, and currently employees around 1000 people. Gobi was partially privatised in 1993, when 26.5% of its equity was floated…
