AmCham Daily Newswire

National Program on Combating Corruption and Strengthening Integrity approved by Parliament

Summary: The National Program on Combating Corruption and Strengthening Integrity was initiated by the President of Mongolia in November 2015, and was submitted for a final hearing by Parliament yesterday. During the hearing, MP T. Ayursaikhan stated, “The Anti-Corruption Agency is a very important organization, but they investigate only middle and lower level officials. There is a suspicion that they do not investigate high level government officials.” The program was approved with a 91.1% vote.

Keywords: legal reform, Parliament, corruption Today /page A2/

Democratic Party Caucus is extremely unsatisfied with the current government

Summary: The Democratic Party Caucus held a press conference and rated Cabinet’s 100 days in action as extremely poor. The Chair and Vice Chair of the Democratic Party Caucus announced that the DP believes that the government has been very slow to implement crucial actions. Vice Chair of the DP B. Purevdorj stated, “The government has not implemented any programs to increase the income of citizens. The only action worth considering raised the price of sheepskin from 500 MNT to 1,000 MNT, which does not equate to any real income increase for herders.” Chair of the DP S. Erdene stated, “In the program to address economic challenges, there is no provision on changing economic structure. It lacks a plan to develop the crucial sectors of the economy, such as construction, animal husbandry, SMEs, and others. We need to change our economic structure, as we have seen that an economy that solely relies on mining cannot develop.”

Keywords: DP, government Daily News /page 5/

Bank of Mongolia set to finance 35.8 billion MNT for ipotek loans

Summary: The Bank of Mongolia will finance 8% ipotek loans for 481 borrowers. The ipotek loan’s primary market started in 2003 and has grown considerably since then. As of August of this year, commercial banks have provided 803.1 billion MNT in loans, equivalent to 20.6% of all ipotek loans issued. Outstanding ipotek loans increased by 19.2% compared to this time last year.

Keywords: BoM, ipotek loan, housing Daily News /page 19/

Mongol Post will be privatized for 20 billion MNT

Summary: Yesterday, the second hearing for the review of 2017’s draft budget was held and MPs voted on bills introduced by the Fiscal Standing Committee. In response to the change in the USD exchange rate, a proposal to add 90 billion MNT to 2017’s state budget revenue, 13 billion MNT to the Future Heritage Fund, and 519.5 million MNT to the Budget Stabilization Fund was approved with a 90.5% vote. The majority of MPs supported the privatization of Mongol Post at a price of 20 billion MNT, and privatization of Erdenet - Bulgan’s Electricity Distribution for 30 billion MNT. MPs supported a proposal to increase the dividends of state-owned companies by 10 million MNT, mining royalty income by 7 billion MNT, and the income of the Budget Stabilization Fund by 85.4 million MNT.

Keywords: privatization, Parliament, Mongol Post www.news.gogo.mn