Politics
On November 8, Prime Minister of Mongolia L. Oyun-Erdene received United Nations Resident Coordinator in Mongolia Mr. Tapan Mishra to discuss the relations and cooperation between the Mongolia and the United Nations. Mr. Tapan Mishra expressed that the UN country team would support the Government of Mongolia’s New Revival Policy and presented the Prime Minister with the document of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for Mongolia 2023-2027. The Prime Minister thanked that this document is aimed at intensifying the implementation of the long-term program document “Vision-2050″, is aligned with the Action Plan of the Government of Mongolia for 2020-2024, and also ensures close intersectoral coordination.
Economy
The State Great Khural (Parliament) of Mongolia approved 2023 budget of Mongolia. On November 11, the fourth discussion took place for the bills on the 2023 State Budget, the 2023 Budget for the Social Insurance Fund, and the 2023 Budget for the Health Insurance Fund. The government’s budget policy for 2023 is directed towards the following objectives, aiming to implement state austerity policy, promote the New Revival Policy, reduce the import pressure and stabilize the macroeconomy through the optimal distribution of resources. Following highlights embedded to the 2023 budget.
With the Law on Austerity being implemented for the first time in this budget, there is a chance to save MNT 1 trillion by refraining from making new investments and cutting back on extravagance.
The budget deficit was approved to be decreased from the target level of MNT -1,906.8 billion or 3.6 percent of GDP to MNT 481.1 billion or 2.6 percent of GDP by stabilizing the economy, guaranteeing macroeconomic balance, and enforcing fiscal discipline at all levels.
Budget reforms in the health and education sectors will be enforced while supporting the investment and business climate through tax policy.
The ongoing major projects in the mining and industrial sector will be completed by implementing the New Revival Policy and new projects in the energy sector will commence.
Ulaanbaatar city’s public transportation fleet reform, service quality difficulties, and congestion will all be fully addressed.
The tax and salary measures that encourage urban to rural migration will be taken. The economy will stabilize and inflation will drop to single digits at the end of the year with the execution of the 2023 budget policy.
Social
The government of Mongolia announced 2023 and 2024 as the “Years to Visit Mongolia”. The Ministry of Environment and Tourism informs that within the framework of the project that will launch at the beginning of next year, all the ministries including all the relevant branches of digital communication, intercommunication, road, transportation, air transport and services will be involved in coordination. The working sub-groups to ensure the preparations for the upcoming “Years to Visit Mongolia” were set up at the first meeting of the National Committee for Tourism Development headed by the Prime Minister. Specifically, coordination and participation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Road and Transport Development, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Digital Development and Communications is needed. Mongolia’s tourism industry received a record-high 577,000 foreign tourists in 2019 and earned USD 607 million from the industry, which accounted for 6.4 percent of the GDP of 2019. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mongolia received 58,000 in 2020 and 33,000 in 2021 respectively. Since Mongolia opened its border to foreign travelers in February 2022, it received 210,000 tourists and earned MNT 750 billion. The number of tourists this year is expected to reach 250,000 and the income to MNT 1 trillion.
The tourist information portal www.mongoliatravel.guide and the Visit Mongolia application have been launched on trial. The website and mobile application for tourists will provide information on the history, culture, art, customs, food, and natural beauty of Mongolia in Mongolian, English, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and Korean languages, the schedule of tourism events and other information.
