The project has 8 fundamental principles based on Mongolia’s features and experiences of developed countries and reflects major government actions for sustainable economic growth, said the director of Research and Statistics Department of the Bank of Mongolia, D.Gan-Ochir.

“Mongolia must conduct a proper budget policy. In other words, the Government should invest revenue from mining and other sectors in personal and infrastructure development. It is extremely important to improve human development or the people’s education. Educated people will work in multiple sectors developing multi-pillar economy. In addition, the exchange rate policy must be flexible. This will allow to overcome any exchange rate related difficulties with minimal loss. On the other hand, employment should be increased. Mongolia must have a fair multiple tax system to eliminate income difference. Generally the project presented today includes all of the above mentioned. So we’ll support the project” said the IMF Resident Representative for Mongolia, Neil Saker.

The suggestions and conclusions made by the professional organizations during the discussion will be included in the ‘Ulaanbaatar consonance’ project and submitted to decision makers.

B.Misheel

At the press conference, the Mining and Heavy Industry Minister D.Sumiyabazar briefed about last year’s report on the sector and plans for 2018.

For instance, the Mineral Resources and Petroleum Authority expects to accumulate MNT291.8 billion at the state budget in 2018, of which MNT223.4 billion will come from oil export. As of January, 2018 the sector accumulated MNT21.9 billion, of which MNT19.2 billion came from oil export.

In 2018, it is planned to extract 8.1 million barrel or 1.1 million tons oil, accumulating MNT223.4 billion at the state budget. As of February 1, 2018, it has extracted 616.8 thousand barrel or 83.6 thousand tons of oil, with a 7.6 percent fulfillment of the plan. Moreover, 558.2 thousand barrel or 75.7 thousand tons oil were exported. The oil export in January brought MNT19.2 billion to the state budget.

In addition, the Minister said that Mongolia has a reserve of oil products equal to 38-days’ consumption by February 5, 2018.

M.Unurzul

The revised Regulation on Security registration has improved the regulation of double registration of securities and made registration process accord with the international common practice. It is notable that major reforms have been made n the Regulation on Security index calculation including detailed regulation of the index calculator and classification index calculation.

The Securities trading regulation has amendments such as defining closing price at the weighted average trading over the last one-hour to make the closing price more realistic.

The revised and amended regulations will be effective from February 19.
B.Misheel

The steel price index came in at 121.8 at the end of December, up 22.4 percent from the beginning of 2017, the MIIT said.

It attributed the increase to cutting overcapacity, a ban on low-quality steel, production restrictions during winter, and recovering market demand.

China slashed its crude steel production capacity by more than 50 million tons in 2017, exceeding its annual target, as part of efforts to improve the competitiveness of the bloated sector.

The country also phased out the production of 140 million tons of low-quality steel made from scrap metal last year.

The industry's profitability improved, with major steel producers' profits surging 613.6 percent, the MIIT cited data from the China Iron and Steel Association as saying.

Despite the improvement, the MIIT warned of more difficulties in further capacity reduction as the increased profits may lure some producers to launch new projects.

China plans to eliminate 100 million to 150 million tons of crude steel capacity in the five years from 2016.

“Growth will not happen until the current panic recedes, and this may take weeks and months,” Mikhail Mashchenko, an analyst at social network for investors eToro, told RT.

"Those who want to invest in the cryptocurrencies may try to start opening positions on it. At least, it is much more reasonable than waiting for the return of the exchange rate to its maximum highs.”

The last week’s sell-off was partially triggered by a panic on the US stock markets, since venture capital like bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is the first thing investors jettison when turbulence occurs in traditional markets, he added.

Nikolay Kotov, analyst at Analitika Online, told RT that current prices represent a good opportunity to buy bitcoin, since this year’s sell-off is not the first tough period for digital assets.

“The history of stock markets repeats itself. It is unprofessional to draw conclusions because of the bearish candle in BTC/USD pair. Personally, I buy bitcoin and ethereum and take long-term positions with targets 33 percent higher than previous local highs,” Kotov said.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were recovering strongly on Monday. The leading cryptocurrency surged almost 10 percent to $8,700, ethereum jumped 8.5 percent to $870, and ripple surged 13 percent to $1.10. All of the top 100 cryptocurrencies on Coinmarketcap were trading in positive territory.

According to the report, the company earned sales revenue of MNT 428 billion in 2017, 2.4 times high compared to 2016.

MNT 48 billion was paid to income tax and the company had MNT 141 billion net profit.

In 2016 the company distributed 85 percent or MNT 45.9 billion of its net profit in the form of dividents which means MNT 872 in per share.

In addition the company's market cap reached MNT 563 billion and set the record in the Mongolian Stock Exchange with MNT 1.4 million per stock and dividend of MNT 130 thousand per share in 2011.

B.Batchimeg

More than 90 state-owned and private companies of China confirmed their participation in the forum. In detail, Chinese companies expressed their interest to invest in agriculture, animal husbandry, farming, infrastructure construction, energy, power plant, nature conservation and rehabilitation, a comprehensive service of environment, renewable energy, tourism, metallurgy, information technology, mining, coal, international freight forwarding, production of chemical and construction materials, construction of industrial park, production of equipment as well as other sectors of Mongolia.

Until March 2, a registration is available for businesspersons who want to take part in the forum and look for investment-a partner of cooperation in abovementioned sectors.

M.Unurzul

LendMN gave a presentation about securities on February 9, at the Mongolian Stock Exchange. LendMN will offer 25 percent of the company’s shares through an IPO.

The company expects to raise five billion MNT from individual buyers and other investors through the MSE trade, and will spend the money on expanding its operations.

Applications for buying the securities will open on February 21, and close on March 7. LendMN introduced its financial technology in 2016, and they provide loans without collateral through a mobile application.

The balance of foreign trade saw a positive outcome, with exports exceeding imports by 62.7 million USD.

Mineral products made up 83 percent of the 423.8 million USD in exports, with 6.4 percent including precious stones and metals. China received 88.5 percent of Mongolia's export products, while Russia received 1.2 percent.

Import volume increased by 30 percent over 2017, reaching 360 million USD. With the Lunar New Year approaching, imports of food and plastic items tend to increase.

China and South Korea have already banned bitcoin mining due to problems with a lack of control over fraud and money laundering, and in China's case, concern over the amount of power that the activity sucks from the electricity grid.

Now one of the most popular destinations for bitcoin mining could be facing the same problem as large cryptocurrency miners pile in to take advantage of the island's abundant geothermal and hydroelectric power plants.

According to Iceland's National Energy Authority, bitcoin mining is expected to double Iceland's energy consumption to around 100 megawatts this year, which is more than households on the island nation of 340,000 use, Metro News reported on Sunday.

In 2014 Oilprice.com found Iceland to be "the world's top energy glutton," using more kilograms of oil equivalent per capita than any other nation on earth. With most of Iceland’s energy coming from hydroelectric and geothermal power, Icelanders are some of the planet’s least energy-conscious. Click here for a fascinating video of why the Nordic nation uses so much energy.