The Ministry of Health has reported today, August 18 that 1,582 new cases of COVID-19 have been detected after conducting tests nationwide within the past 24 hours. More specifically, 452 new cases were detected in the capital city, with 1,130 cases in rural regions.

As of today, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Mongolia now stands at 186,537. In the last 24 hours, 1,879 coronavirus patients made recoveries. Furthermore, five new COVID-19 related deaths has been reported, raising the country’s death toll to 889.

Of the total patients currently undergoing treatment at hospitals, there are 5,294 patients in mild, 3,055 in serious, 848 in critical, and 196 in very critical conditions.

On Aug 18 marks the 200th day since the formation of Mongolia's new government. In connection with this, the “Economy in the midst of the pandemic - Public-Private-Investors Meeting” was held, involving foreign investors and representatives of the international organizations in Mongolia.

During the meeting, Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene announced that the Government of Mongolia is announcing a policy to intensify public-private partnerships, marking the 200th day since the formation of new government.

The government has focused on acceleration of the vaccination rollout in the country in its first 100 days. The PM noted that Mongolia was able to immunize its 62.2 percent of the total population against COVID-19, which currently ranked 14th in the world, thanks to the generous support provided by the partner countries.

It has also been underscored during the meeting that the government's implementation of the ‘MNT 10 trillion Comprehensive Plan for Health Protection and Economic Recovery’ has played a significant role in reviving the economy and protecting the citizens’ health. In particular, as a result of a MNT 320 billion loan to support agriculture under the comprehensive plan, this fall is expected to yield more than the 30-year average. More importantly, the successful implementation of the plan so far helped keep 130 thousand jobs and save 225 thousand others.

It was reported that the following five national committees headed by the Prime Minister will be set up at tomorrow’s cabinet meeting:

National Committee for Intensifying the Economy, Increasing Exports, Supporting Import-Substituting National Production, Strengthening Public-Private Partnerships, and Increasing Investment;

National Committee for Reform to E-Government and Create a Bureaucracy-Free and Competent Public Service;

National Committee for Reducing Road Congestion in Ulaanbaatar, Balancing Urban and Rural Development and Decentralization;

National Committee for Increasing Housing, Establishing a Unified Savings Fund, National Wealth Fund and Expanding the Middle Class;

National Committee for the Promotion of Olympism, Human Development Indicators and Quality of Life;

Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene said, "A sub-working group consisting of investors and representatives of the private sector will be established under the National Committees. It takes time for the public and private sectors to define their coordination. Therefore, national committees are being set up with the aim of creating a system of coordination. In the future, the government will draft a law to revive the economy during the pandemic and submit it to the State Great Khural which is expected to be a great impetus to:

Revitalize the post pandemic economy and increase capacity;

Provide policy support to increase exports and develop domestic import-substituting industries;

Increase foreign and domestic investment and expand the economy;

Intensify further public-private partnerships and create a favorable business environment.”

The Prime Minister stressed that the government plans to establish a Ministry of Economic Development and Planning in 2022 after establishing the aforementioned National Committees and the law to revive the economy.

The prices of Mongolia’s main export products are increasing in the world market. For example, iron ore prices have doubled, copper prices have risen by 50 percent, gold prices by 19 percent and oil prices by 13 percent. He noted that this growth is expected to continue for the next five years and called on investors to take advantage of this period.

Investors and representatives of international organizations expressed readiness to cooperate in agriculture, renewable energy and food production. They expressed support for the Prime Minister's plans to create a legal environment for economic recovery amid the pandemic, digitalize the state procurement and the establishment of the Ministry of Digital Development. They also asked the Prime Minister to hold such meetings more often than once.

According to the statistics, a total of USD 29 billion was invested in Mongolia between 1990 and 2020, and USD 2.5 billion in 2020. During the same period, 15.2 thousand companies were registered, of which 50.2 percent were Chinese companies. In terms of economic sectors, foreign direct investment accounted for 70.2 percent in geology, mining exploration and mining, 16.56 percent in trade and catering, 3.2 percent in banking and finance, and 1.2 percent in transportation and logistics. 1.3 percent was in construction, construction materials and other sectors. Canada accounts for 26.9 percent of total foreign investment, China for 19 percent and the Netherlands for 14.7 percent.

In 2020, due to the pandemic, the amount of foreign investment in the world decreased by 38 percent, while it decreased by 18.5 percent in Mongolia.

The mining industry is falling short on cutting greenhouse-gas emissions enough to limit global warming, even after stepping up efforts to help combat climate change.

Only 11 out of 46 metal and mining companies analyzed by Bloomberg Intelligence have carbon-reduction targets that match levels needed for the United Nations’ goal of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence report.

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The group includes global giants such as Anglo American Plc and Newmont Corp., the world’s largest gold producer.

Australia’s Fortescue Metals Group Ltd and Sweden’s Boliden AB are the leaders of the group, indicating better preparedness for a low-carbon transition and suggesting the best combination of current and forecasted performance on curbing emissions, according to Bloomberg Intelligence’s carbon score ranking. The top five companies, based on their overall carbon score, are:

Company Name Overall Score

Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. 9.84

Boliden AB 9.75

Kumba Iron Ore Ltd. 9.73

Newmont Corp. 9.53

BHP Group Ltd. 8.84

Source: Bloomberg

The BI ranking measures the companies on reduction trends, current and future carbon-dioxide intensity, planned cuts and positioning to the end of the decade compared to a temperature-aligned benchmark, using data through April 1. Of the companies analyzed, only Fortescue has set a carbon-neutral target for 2030. Fourteen companies aim to zero out emissions with the target date ranging from 2030 to 2050 as part of a long-term transition.

The mining industry faces increasing scrutiny from investors and regulators demanding greater emphasis on environmental, social and governance issues. Big miners have been working to improve sustainability reports, showing awareness of how hard their business can be hit if they ignore those calls, and a number of producers have set goals to reduce emissions or adopted more ambitious targets in the past couple years.

Related read: UN says IPCC’s climate report “code red for humanity”

Aluminum producers face the highest risks due to carbon-intensive operations, according to the BI report. Those companies need to reduce emissions 49% by 2030, compared to the 20% cutback needed by other diversified and precious metals miners.

“Having carbon-reduction goals is important to aluminum companies because they’re more carbon-intensive than most other metals,” Shaheen Contractor, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, said. “That might be why for other miners like precious metal companies, few have set carbon emission goals as of April 1.”

European aluminum companies could see costs of as much as 1.5% of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to 2024, according to the report. A proposal to cut emissions in the European Union 55% by the end of the decade “may mean more headwinds”.

(By Mariana Durao)

Blockchain platform Poly Network, which was recently hit by a $611 million crypto heist, has reportedly asked the hacker behind the attack to work as a security adviser for the company.

The crypto firm reported the heist a week ago via its Twitter account, having identified three addresses where stolen assets were allegedly transferred. However, nearly half of the stolen crypto assets were returned as early as the next day. So far, all but $33 million worth of crypto is reported to have been returned.

“To extend our thanks and encourage Mr. White Hat to continue contributing to security advancement in the blockchain world together with Poly Network, we cordially invite Mr. White Hat to be the chief security adviser of Poly Network,” the firm said in a statement, offering a $500,000 reward for assisting in retrieving the user funds.

“Mr. White Hat” is a reference to ethical hackers who frequently search for vulnerabilities in systems that could expose them to cyberattacks.

After last week’s attack, the company still can’t access more than $200 million of the funds, which are locked in an account that requires passwords. The firm reportedly cannot implement a “significant system upgrade” to prevent similar attacks until all the remaining assets are returned.

According to an anonymous person cited by CNBC, the hacker said the private key will be provided once “everyone is ready.”

New York (CNN Business)ESG investing — funds that are conscious of companies' actions on the environment, society and governance — is an increasingly popular trend for people concerned about how their money is being used. It sounds great, but it's complicated.

The ESG label is meant to make investing green easier by giving investors a simple way to allocate their money to good causes. And, indeed, there are plenty of sustainability- and climate change-focused exchange traded funds available.

But it's still not the catch-all stamp of approval you'd expect.

The label started with the idea that ESG issues should be included when valuing a business. More recently, however, the emphasis has moved to the impact company's products and services have, said Jon Hale, director of sustainability research at Sustainalytics.

"A lot of ESG funds are oriented more toward the ESG valuations rather than the impact," he told CNN Business.

That's why the blanket ESG designation might not mean all companies in an ETF are up-to-snuff on all fronts.

"You can't tell just from the label. You actually have to figure out what they're doing," said Hale.

That essentially forces investors into tough choices between the E, the S and the G. Invest in one, and you often have to sacrifice another. This puts climate and socially conscious investors in a tough spot.

Problem 1: Big Tech

For example, ESG ETFs stay away from weapons manufacturers, tobacco companies or firms in the coal and oil sands businesses but still give investors access to the controversial golden geese of America's stock market: tech stocks.

Big Tech companies like Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) make up a big chunk of these funds. They're included because both of these companies have made commitments to run net-zero carbon supply chains and operations in the next decades.

That doesn't mean they're carbon-neutral now. Amazon's ultra-fast delivery options come at an environmental cost, for example. Last year, when online shopping went through the roof as people tried to avoid exposure to Covid-19, Amazon's carbon emissions grew by 19% — even though the business reduced its overall carbon intensity.

As for Apple, though the company is working on getting the carbon intensity out of its mostly Asia-based supply chain, it's not there yet. Apple's manufacturing contributed more than two-thirds of its carbon footprint last year, according to the company's environmental progress report. Apple also includes the use of its products by consumers in the company's carbon footprint, which accounts for another one-fifth.

Both Apple and Amazon particularly struggle with the S and the G as well: They continue to face scrutiny over the treatment of their Chinese factory and essential warehouse workers, for example. Amazon has been criticized for blocking employee efforts to form unions.

Facebook (FB) is also represented in ESG funds, despite the criticism from governments and individuals about the company's impact on society.

Problem 2: Tesla

Another mainstay in thematic ESG funds is electric car maker Tesla (TSLA).

From an emissions point of view, electric cars are an obvious choice for a climate-conscious investor. But electricity that fuels electric cars is still generated using natural gas or coal, and the environmental impact of battery production is less well known. That's leaving a coal stain on Tesla's China expansion.

Also hurting Tesla's record: the company's history of making billions on selling regulatory credits to other car markers, allowing them to keep making money on gas-fueled vehicles.

"Everything is a tradeoff," said Elizabeth Levy, portfolio manager at Trillium Asset Management told CNN Business, and consuming anything, by definition, is using up some resource. But while we might not know as much about battery production as about the impact of oil extraction, batteries still win the direct comparison, Levy said.

Tesla has reduced its carbon footprint every year for the past decade, said Dan Ives, analyst at Wedbush Securities, who covers the company.

But the environment isn't Tesla's only issue. CEO Elon Musk, who spent much of the pandemic denying the risks of Covid-19 and railing against lockdown orders, also has plenty of governance problems, too. Musk has gotten punished multiple times by the Securities and Exchange Commission for his misleading tweets and other violations.

Most recently Musk stirred things up on social media and on television about cryptocurrencies, which moved the market sharply. Tesla also disclosed it invested millions in Bitcoin — only to later say it canceled plans to accept the cryptocurrency as payment because of its immense carbon footprint.

"Trying to find the perfect company is impossible," said Ives. "Realistically, no company is going to check every box. But if there are five boxes and [a company] checks four, that's significant."

Problem 3: New technologies, new problems

Bitcoin and other new technologies are part of a new ESG issue: an insatiable hunger for electricity.

The same power needed to charge zero-emissions vehicles is required to fuel the Bitcoin mining process, in which computers solve complex puzzles to create new "blocks" on the blockchain and thus unlock new coins. Bitcoin has come under fire over environmental concerns regarding the high energy use of the mining process.

Natural gas, a common source of energy for electricity in the United States, is less polluting than oil from an emissions point of view, but much of the world still burns coal to fuel power plants, which is weighing on the effectiveness of on climate-friendly alternatives like electric vehicles as emissions savers.

For ESG investors this raises the question what environmentally friendly technologies are actually green through and through.

Batteries are another such conundrum because they use other nonrenewable resources, materials that are found in only a handful of places on earth, such as lithium and cobalt.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is the world's biggest producer of cobalt, for example, where the industry also includes child workers. That doesn't seem compliant with the S and G in ESG whatsoever.

Tesla announced last year it would ditch cobalt in its battery production, a plus on the social and governance side that would also reduce their cost.

Problem 4: Making money

Another trade-off is performance.

Funds aimed at sub-genres of ESG, such as BlackRock's (BLK) iShares Global Clean Energy ETF (ICLN) or the Invesco Solar ETF (TAN), just haven't done very well this year after soaring in 2020. Both ETFs are down some 20% for the year, while the S&P 500 (SPX) by contrast has gained nearly the same percentage.

So for ESG-conscious investors who want to see a handsome return, the broader funds might still be the best way to go.

ESG investing doesn't do away with all problems in business, environmental or otherwise. But investor decisions still make a difference.

"As investors we have to invest in the future we want to see," Levy said.

That means understanding the depth of the commitment companies are making to reach their ESG goals and how they can actually be held accountable.

"That's one of the reasons ESG investors such as ourselves are pressuring the SEC to require climate disclosures," which would standardize that kind of reporting, Levy added.

Shareholder activism surrounding ESG issues is also becoming more common.

"Companies are starting to realize that they have a fairly sizable amount of ESG-minded investors in their investor base," said Hale, the Sustainalytics sustainability research director. And that's "doing some good in terms of shifting corporate behavior toward operating with sustainability in mind."

Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's COVID-19 tally rose to 184,950 after 1,298 new cases had been registered over the past 24 hours, the country's health ministry said Tuesday.

Four more deaths were reported, bringing the national count to 884, said the ministry.

So far, 62.2 percent of Mongolia's population has been fully vaccinated since the Asian country launched a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign in late February.

SEOUL, Aug. 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has provided Mongolia with some US$300,000 worth of coronavirus diagnostic kits as part of a project to create and share a reserve of medical supplies among countries in the region to respond jointly to pandemics like the coronavirus, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.

The two sides held a ceremony in Ulaanbaatar to mark the delivery of the COVID-19 kits, attended by South Korean Ambassador to Mongolia Lee Yeo-hong and Mongolian Health Minister Sereejav Enkhbold, the ministry said.

The provision of the test kits came as a trial run of establishing a multinational reserve of medical supplies to respond to future health emergencies, a proposal Seoul made to its Northeast Asian neighbors in May.

"At the delivery ceremony, the ambassador hoped that the pilot operation of the joint reserve scheme through this assistance will serve as a stepping stone for the substantive development of the Northeast Asia Conference on Health Security," the ministry said.

Enkhbold thanked the South Korean government for the provision, noting that Seoul's efforts for regional cross-border health security cooperation will be of substantive help to his country amid the pandemic, according to the ministry.

South Korea made the proposal at a session of the Northeast Asia Conference on Health Security -- a forum launched late last year at President Moon Jae-in's suggestion to foster joint efforts to handle pandemics and other challenges.

Today marks the 200th day since the formation of Mongolia’s new government. Mr. Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai was appointed as the Prime Minister of Mongolia on January 27 this year. Then, the Government was fully formed as members of his cabinet took an oath of office to the Parliament on January 29. Afterward, Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene presented four key objectives of his Cabinet and started working accordingly.

Due to the pandemic, countries around the globe faced the worst social and economic crisis in 100 years. In his remarks during the Parliament’s plenary session on January 29, the Prime Minister mentioned what researchers said about the global economy soaring after the pandemic. Emphasizing the need for Mongolia to begin preparations early to capitalize on and leverage the recovery, he undertook to join forces with wealth creators and investors to achieve the goal. Therefore, the very first step was to protect the businesses that stopped operating and were on the verge of closing down. At its regular meeting on February 17, the Cabinet approved the ‘MNT 10 trillion Comprehensive Plan for Health Protection and Economic Recovery’. The plan included issuing 3-year loans totaling MNT 2 trillion to small and medium sized enterprises at a 3 percent interest rate, involving youth in a 2-month skills training program, and stepping up the construction of Youth I, II, and III apartment complexes and issuing affordable mortgage loans using MNT 3 trillion. Moreover, in the plan, MNT 2 trillion was earmarked for the implementation of projects and programs of high strategic importance, MNT 500 billion for supporting agricultural production as well as the incomes and livelihoods of herders, and more for increasing the Bank of Mongolia’s annual repo financing from MNT 1 trillion to MNT 2 trillion.

As of today, MNT 3.4 trillion has been used for the plan. Specifically, 3 percent interest rate loans totaling MNT 1.8 trillion were given to 54.5 thousand businesses to support employment, MNT 635 billion was used for repo financing, and MNT 320 billion was loaned to support agriculture. MNT 599 billion mortgage loans were also issued. The successful implementation of the plan so far helped keep 130 thousand jobs and save 225 thousand others. Thanks to the MNT 10 trillion plan, Mongolia’s economic growth that was -5.3 percent in 2020 has improved to 6.3 percent with the expectation to reach 6.9 percent by the end of the year.

Economists have found through research that the economic growth would have been -2.4 percent without the launch of the vaccination program and the MNT 10 trillion plan or 1.6 percent without the MNT 10 trillion plan.

In the first half of this year, the Mongolian Stock Exchange (MSE) made a profit of MNT 1.5 billion for the first time in 30 years. This high yield was mainly due to bond trading activity, which reached MNT 119.6 billion, 6.5 times higher than the same period of the previous year.

The total value of the Mongolian stock market reached MNT 3.8 trillion in the first half of 2021, which is a record high, showing an increase of 52.1 percent compared to the previous year. The TOP 20 index increased by 107 percent compared to the same period of the last year and reached 33,509 units, while market capitalization increased by 75 percent, reaching MNT 2.9 trillion.

From the 50 or so brokerage companies operating in Mongolia and contributing to the stock market, Ard Securities led in secondary market trading facilitation with MNT 160.4 billion or 64 percent of the market, BDsec facilitated MNT 19.8 billion or 8 percent, Standard Investment JSC facilitated MNT 15.4 billion or 6 percent, Golomt Capital facilitated MNT 8.7 billion or 4 percent, and Bumbat-Altai facilitated MNT 8.4 billion or 3 percent of the market respectively. For the first time, the efforts of all brokerage companies working together to develop the country’s stock market, which made a profit of MNT1.5 billion, were not in vain.

Thus, it is essential to note that the prosperity of the stock market in Mongolia is gaining momentum and, as a result, is beginning to benefit the people. At the same time, it is believed that the growing number of people interested in the market will contribute to the further development of the sector.

Source: ARD Financial Group

On August 16, Head of the Operative Team at the Emergency Commission of the Capital City R.Chingis reported that ‘Responsibility Agreements’ have been signed with libraries and cinemas, ensuring preparations for the resumption of operations.

Per the request received from sports federations to organize competitions and tournaments, the Emergency Commission of the Capital City made the decision to allow sports competitions and tournaments to be organized outdoors. Alongside adhering to social distancing and infection prevention guidelines, such events are to have no spectators following the signing of ‘Responsibility Agreements’ with the federations. As of currently, events are currently being organized by the federations of football, archery, and traditional wrestling.