MPP faction receives report from cabinet

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ At its meeting on Thursday, a faction of the Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) received details on a present economic situation and on agenda to be discussed by the irregular parliamentary session. The reports were given by D.Gankhuyag, the Minister of Mining; N.Batbayar, the Minister of Economic Development; N.Zoljargal, a president of the Bank of Mongolia (BoM); and by S.Mendsaikhan, a head of the National Statistical Committee (NSC). The NSC said the national economy grew up in a first quarter of 2013 against the previous year, moreover, the export reached USD 6.9 billion in the first eight months of this year, nonetheless, both export and import declined. An export of coal decreased, bur that of copper, iron ore and oil increased, "thus we admit that the national economy is in trouble but not in crisis," he emphasized. The faction asked the Minister of Economic Development and the BoM president if they agree with this report and conclusion, and asked them about a currency rate fluctuation. There is no ground for saying that the industrial sector and mining are in crisis, the Economic Development Minister replied. In times when the government for reforms was set up, it was anticipated that foreign investments would be declining due to the global economic crisis, so the decision was made to issue the "Chingis" bonds to save the economy, "if we had not done this, our economy would have really worsened." The BoM president said the currency flow into Mongolian economy decreased 26%. In order to prevent further freeze, the BoM tok several measures, thanks to which a sour of foreign currencies is likely to decrease from this month, "but it will depend on the currency flow into Mongolia," he pointed out. Then he said the exchange reserves have 2.7 billion UDS so far, and that the BoM backs a discussion of the draft amendments to the laws on prohibiting mineral exploration and extraction near/at water sources and forests and on ensuring a transparency of gold trades. After the discussion, the faction went to a closed meeting.