AmCham Daily Newswire

J. Erdenebat – Civil servants’ salaries will be decreased to maintain employment

Summary: During a press conference yesterday, Prime Minister J. Erdenebat and the Minister of Finance B. Choijilsuren confirmed that the last week’s statement by the Minister of Finance regarding the economic recession is true despite strong denial from the DP. The Government is working to have a consolidated and single budget to ensure the accuracy of public revenues and expenditures estimations. They plan to work in two phases. First, they will take policy actions over the course of 12-18 months that will aim to stabilize macroeconomic indicators and ensure fiscal discipline. After that, policy actions will be taken to promote economic growth. Because statistics show that the budget deficit will reach approximately 21.6% of the GDP by the end of 2016, the PM sent a request to the Speaker of Parliament to call for an irregular session of Parliament to present the 2016 budget amendments as soon as possible. The two ministers revealed that the cause of the economic recession was unplanned, incoherent extra expenses; therefore, the salaries of some public servants will be reduced to avoid any layoffs. The Government will also pay extra attention to promoting small and medium enterprises. In addition, the social transfer programs, including Child Money and Student Allowance, will be continued on a targeted basis

Keywords: government stability, economic recession The Century News /pages 5/

Minister of Agriculture meets with farmers

Summary: The Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry P. Sergelen made an onsite check of the preparatory work for the fall harvesting and met with farmers from the Khentii, Darkhan, Tuv, Uvurkhangai and Selenge Provinces. Regarding the discord between farmers and herders due to the expansion of agriculture businesses in rural areas, the Minister commented that the new Law on Agriculture carefully addressed the issue and the regulations were approved based on the geographic characteristics of each region. Minister P. Sergelen also noted that the rest of the support loan from the Development Bank will be available for submission by August 20^th and that the Cabinet approved the decision to accept a 50% down payment for fuel needed for fall harvest preparations.

Keywords: agriculture, fall harvesting The Century News /pages 5/

International trade increased by 105 million USD

Summary: A report for the first seven months of 2016 from the National Statistical Office of Mongolia shows that the consolidated budget balance amounted to a deficit of 1.974 billion MNT, while the State budget deficit reached 2 trillion MNT. There are approximately 30,500 unemployed citizens and 60.9% of them are between the ages of 15-34 and the birth rate decreased 3.3% compared to the first seven months of 2015. Meanwhile, the GDP increased by 3% and the international trade balance reached 709 million USD, an increase by 105 million USD compared to the same period in 2015.

Keywords: economy, statistics Daily News /page 1, 4/

Khan Bank increases its ATM service fee

Summary: It has been a while since customers started complaining about various service fees of commercial banks. For reference, Khan Banks extracts 100 MNT every time customers use the ATM service, 50 MNT for printing the receipt, 500 MNT for transferring money to another domestic bank account, 100 MNT for checking the deposit and more. Recently, Khan Bank increased the ATM service fee amount from 100 MNT for any amount of transfer to 150 MNT in up to 100,000 MNT; 200 MNT for more than 101,000 MNT transfers. The management of the bank explained that the ATM service fee increased because the costly technology and system renovations they have made for the convenience and safety of customers. Khan Bank confirmed that no other changes related to service fees were made.

Keywords: banking, service fee Today /page 1/

DP - The MPP is violating their election action plan

Summary: Right now, the Head of DP Caucus in the Parliament MP S. Erdene and MP Z. Narantuya are holding a press conference regarding some of the recent decisions made by the MPP. MP Z. Narantuya stated that the cause of the current economic decline deeply rooted in the falted economic structure of the country. She emphasized that the DP was working towards the change of the whole system. MP S. Erdene added that reducing the salary of civil servants works against the Law on Civil Service and violates the MPP’s action plan to increase the salaries systematically.

Keywords: government stability, election, economy www.medee.mn