Mongolia's foreign exchange reserves hit a record high of 5.5 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2024, according to official data released by the country's central bank on Friday.

The figure represents an 11.81 percent increase compared to the previous year, the Bank of Mongolia said.

Mongolia's forex reserves had significantly dwindled to 2.6 billion dollars in August 2022, the lowest level since 2017, due to a deepening current account deficit driven by challenging internal and external economic conditions.

In March 2024, the reserves surpassed the 5-billion-dollar mark for the first time in the country's history, marking a turning point in Mongolia's financial recovery, the central bank noted.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Jaap van Hierden of the Netherlands as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Mongolia, with the host Government’s approval, on 1 January.

Mr. van Hierden has more than 30 years of experience in development, humanitarian action and peacebuilding, including establishing, managing and leading offices and projects and strategic, policy, operational, managerial, and coordination roles and responsibilities.

Most recently he served as the first UN Resident Coordinator of the new UN Multi-Country Office in Micronesia hosted by Pohnpei/Federated States of Micronesia supporting Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Nauru and Kiribati. In this capacity, he led the UN country team to ensure their support to achieve national development goals. From 2018 to 2021, he worked with Cordaid in Afghanistan. He worked with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in the Philippines and Cambodia from 2013 to 2016 and for UNOPS in various roles in Copenhagen, New York, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok from 1995 to 2013. He worked for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Bangkok in 1994, and from 1991 to 1993 he served in Sierra Leone with the United Nations Capital Development Fund.

Mr. van Hierden holds a master’s degree in agricultural economics from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. He is married, with three adult children and one teenager.

Minister of Road and Transport of Mongolia Delgersaikhan Borkhuu received a delegation headed by Director General of the Russian “Natsproektstroy” Group Krapivin Alexey Andreevich and exchanged views on cooperation between the transport sectors of the two countries.

In particular, they discussed possible cooperation on projects and programs planned to be implemented in the road and transport sector reflected in the long-term, medium, and short-term policy documents of Mongolia’s development, such as “Vision-2050.”

Minister Delgersaikhan expressed his gratitude for the fact that the long-standing friendly relations between the two countries occupy an important place in the road and transport sector and the cooperation is still active.

The Russian “Natsproektstroy” Group is a group of companies with experience in the country’s industrial sector and brings together enterprises and organizations specializing in the development of roads, railways, ports, energy, and infrastructure. Mongolia and the Russian Federation signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the development of infrastructure within the framework of the establishment of the Mongolia-Russia-China Economic Corridor.

The delegation led by Aleksey Andreevich Krapivin, Director General of the Russian “Natsproektstroy” Group of Companies, arrived in Mongolia at the invitation of the Minister of Road and Transport of Mongolia Delgersaikhan to implement the measures reflected in the MoU.

Under the MoU, the parties will be able to cooperate on key projects in the infrastructure sector, including railway and road projects along the Western, Eastern, Central and Northern transport corridors, the Ulaanbaatar Railway Joint Venture-based project to manage and digitize existing and newly constructing railways grounded on the principle of railway network integration, a project to cooperate in the establishment of a 1520 mm gauge Mongolian railway network, and the Altanbulag Zamiin-Uud highway project.

These projects will be implemented only in the Build-Operate-Transfer format, noted the parties at the meeting.

Mongolia has officially begun using both the Cyrillic and traditional Mongolian scripts for legal papers and official documents, starting this year, local media reported on Thursday, citing the National Council of Language Policy.

The move is part of a national program aimed at promoting the traditional Mongolian script and enhancing its usage across the country.

The traditional Mongolian script, a writing system developed specifically for the Mongolian language, is distinct for its vertical orientation, setting it apart from most modern scripts.

The traditional script was the most widespread until the introduction of the Cyrillic script in the 1940s.

At least 40 percent of Mongolia's territory is now at high risk of experiencing the extreme wintry weather "dzud" this winter, the country's National Agency for Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring said Friday.

The dzud is a Mongolian term to describe a severely cold winter when many livestock die because the ground is frozen or covered in snow.

"A recent risk assessment of the dzud indicates that at least 40 percent of the country's total territory faces a high risk of dzud this winter, while 20 percent is categorized as medium risk," the weather monitoring agency said in a statement.

Most areas in the five western provinces, Bayan-Ulgii, Uvs, Khovd, Zavkhan, and Gobi-Altai, are at high or very high risk, the agency warned.

Additionally, some parts of the northern provinces, Khuvsgul, Selenge, and Bulgan, the central provinces of Arkhangai and Uvurkhangai, and smaller areas of the southern provinces of Bayankhongor and Dundgovi are also at high risk.

The agency urged local authorities and nomadic herders to prepare for potential challenges to mitigate the impacts of the harsh winter conditions.

Mongolia, one of the world's last remaining nomadic nations, is known for its extreme winters, largely shaped by the Siberian high-pressure system.

Last winter, the Asian country experienced its heaviest snowfall in five decades, leading to a severe dzud that resulted in the loss of millions of livestock.

Operations of state-owned enterprises including Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi JSC, Erdenet Plant SOE, Mongolrostsvetmet SOE, MIAT SOJSC, and State Bank JSC which were profitable with the performance of 2024 and the financial statements for the year-end audit of 2023 were presented to Cabinet session on January 2, 2025.

According to the audited financial statements for the year-end of 2023, these five companies and enterprises in the mining, civil aviation, banking, and finance sectors earned a total of MNT 15.3 trillion in revenue, incurred expenses of MNT 9.2 trillion, generating a net profit of MNT 4.5 trillion.

A total of 122 state-owned and state-involved companies and enterprises operate in the energy, road, transportation, mining, banking, information, communications, food, agriculture, light industry, construction and urban development, environment, tourism, sports, culture and arts, and foreign relations sectors, employing about 60,000 people. According to the audited financial reports for 2023, these companies and enterprises had total assets of MNT 64.2 trillion and generated a net profit of MNT 4.9 trillion, earning a combined income of MNT 23.6 trillion and incurring expenses of MNT 16.9 trillion.

Despite the combined net profit of almost MNT 5 trillion, MNT 4.75 trillion of the total net profit was generated by five companies and enterprises, including “Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi,” “Erdenet Plant,” “Erdenes Mongol,” “Agricultural Corporation,” and “State Bank” while 51 companies and enterprises generated the remaining MNT 380 billion. On the other hand, 43 companies and enterprises operated at a loss of MNT 150 billion.

The Government has initiated legal reforms to improve the operations of state-owned companies and enterprises. For example, in connection with the adoption of the 2025 Budget Law of Mongolia, the Law on State and Local Property includes specific regulations to ensure that state-owned companies and enterprises operate transparently, openly, productively, and effectively. Moreover, the initial draft law on state-owned and locally owned companies has been developed.

The Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Light Industry of Mongolia and 10 commercial banks of Mongolia have signed a Financing Agreement for the Working Capital and Investment Loans to Support Wool, Cashmere, and Leather Processing Industry.

The Signing Ceremony was attended by Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light of Mongolia Industry Enkhbayar Jadamba, Governor of the Bank of Mongolia Lkhagvasuren Byadran, Economic Policy Advisor to the President of Mongolia Davaadalai Batsuuri, as well as representatives of enterprises and professional associations operating in wool, cashmere, and leather production, the State Bank, Khan Bank, Trade and Development Bank, Golomt Bank, Capitron Bank, Khas Bank, Bogd Bank, Transport Development Bank, M Bank, and Arig Bank.

The loan financing of MNT 788.9 billion has been approved, including MNT 300 billion for working capital, MNT 488.9 billion for investment loans, and MNT 66.4 billion for interest relief on working capital and investment loans to be paid by the Government. The “White Gold” national program initiated by the President of Mongolia will be implemented in 2024-2028.

“White Gold” national program targets to increase the complete cashmere processing to 40 percent, expand cashmere production to MNT 2.3 trillion, and export to USD 690 million, while creating more than 3,000 new jobs. Regarding wool processing, production, and export, it aims at achieving complete wool processing to 55 percent, wool production to MNT 670 billion, export to USD 119 million, and creating about 2,200 new jobs. In addition, deep processing of leather and hides is estimated to reach 50 percent, increasing sales to MNT 90 billion, exports to USD 22.4 million, and creating more than 3,000 new jobs.

Mongolia has an average annual production capacity of 37,000 tons of sheep wool, 10,000 tons of goat cashmere, 2,000 tons of camel wool, 400 tons of yak wool, and 18 million pieces of leather and hides. More than 70 percent of wool and cashmere raw materials are exported after being merely washed, while only about 40 percent of leather and hide raw materials undergo processing.