Mongolia reported 704 new cases of COVID-19 in 24 hours after 13,591 PCR tests conducted nationwide.

598 cases were registered in Ulaanbaatar.

The total number of coronavirus cases reached 15,718, the Ministry of Health said.

A total of 9,516 patients recovered, with 218 in the last 24 hours.

3 deaths (a 73-year-old man, a 79-year-old woman, and a 60-year-old woman) occurred yesterday.

Petro Matad, the AIM quoted Mongolian oil company, has provided an operational update.

Block XX Exploitation Licence

Progress has been made on the two remaining steps of the Exploitation Licence application that need to be completed prior to submitting the formal request for the Block XX Exploitation Licence to be awarded.

Plan of Development: Mongolia's upstream industry regulator, the Mineral Resources and Petroleum Authority of Mongolia (MRPAM), convened a meeting of the Technical Committee on 16 March and provided its recommendations on Petro Matad's Heron oilfield Plan of Development. These have been incorporated into the documentation which is now ready for final review by the Mineral Resources Professional Council (MRPC) as required under the Mongolian government's Exploitation Licence application procedure. The MRPC has been asked to convene the meeting as soon as possible. If required, the meeting can be conducted virtually as was the MRPC review of Heron reserves.

Exploitation Area: The Company and MRPAM have agreed the area of Block XX that will be retained under the Exploitation Licence when awarded. The Exploitation Area includes the entire extension into Block XX of the proven and producing Toson Uul Basin. This basin contains an estimated 2 billion barrels of in place oil in the Petro China operated areas in Block XXI and XIX immediately to the north of Block XX. The agreed Block XX Exploitation Area contains all of the prospectivity identified within the proven basin. Petro Matad will look to undertake near field exploration drilling in this area, in parallel with the development of the Heron oilfield.

Formal application for Exploitation Licence: We have requested that MRPC reviews and approves the Plan of Development as soon as possible and once confirmed by ministerial resolution, we will have all the documents required to submit the formal application to the Minister to grant the Block XX Exploitation Licence.

Timing: Mongolia has been suffering from localised lockdowns in response to the Covid-19 pandemic in recent weeks and another two week lockdown has just been imposed in Ulaanbaatar in response to a rise in cases. We are hopeful that the lockdown will not impact the MRPC meeting. MRPC met virtually to review and approve the Heron field reserves during Mongolia's December 2020 lockdown. We are focused on successfully completing the Exploitation Licence application procedure and submitting the application to the Minister for award of the Licence early in Q2 2021.

Short-Term Funding Considerations

As the Company reported in 2020, cash conservation initiatives were implemented to extend the life of the Company's existing cash resources through to mid-2021, a period deemed long enough at that time to secure the Exploitation Licence and the funding necessary for the next phase of the Company's development. Given the progress made in recent weeks, we remain hopeful that the Exploitation Licence will still be granted within this period however, in order to secure the financial standing of the Company beyond mid-2021, the Board has procured an unsecured loan facility from its major and founding shareholder, Petrovis.

Petrovis has agreed to make available to Petro Matad a line of credit of up to US$1.5 million, to be drawn when needed to maintain the Company's operating capability, to see it through to the award of the Exploitation Licence and the establishment of funding for development operations. Interest on the loan will be paid at effectively the same rate that Petrovis secures US dollar financing from its banks (currently 10%). The loan will be repaid by one or more of the following:

From production revenue with repayment starting no earlier than 2023;

The amount drawn plus interest will be rolled into Petrovis's contribution to any future equity fund raising that may be undertaken; or

From the proceeds (payment of back-costs) of a successful farm-out.

The loan will only be drawn if required and based on current and forecast operating costs could fund the Company at its current level of staffing and activity through to Q3 2022 if necessary. With this funding mechanism available, Petro Matad will have the finances it needs to complete the Exploitation Licence application process and to secure the funding required for development operations on the Heron oilfield.

Mike Buck, CEO of Petro Matad said:

'We are very pleased to have agreed with MRPAM the Exploitation Area which contains the entirety of the Heron and Gazelle structures and the full extent into Block XX of the prolific oil producing Toson Uul basin. We are evaluating the near field potential in the area that could see reserves increase significantly through low cost, high chance of success, exploration drilling conducted in parallel with production and development activities at Heron over the next few years.

On the Plan of Development, we are appreciative of the time and dedication shown by MMHI and MRPAM in providing their expertise and recommendations to improve the plan. MMHI has also said it will expedite the MRPC review which is the final, formal meeting required in the Exploitation Licence application procedure.

Finally, we are extremely grateful to Petrovis for their continued support and their firm belief that Petro Matad can successfully move to being an exploration and production company in the near-term. Their ongoing support underlines their confidence in the potential of Petro Matad and of the country for sustained development.'

Further updates will be provided in due course.

Original article link

Source: Petro Matad

State Great Khural of Mongolia at its plenary session dated April 9 reviewed the ongoing implementation of the government comprehensive plan aimed at economic recovery and health protection amid the pandemic with total funding of MNT 10 trillion, as presented by Minister of Finance B.Javkhlan.

The government planned 56 sets of measures, such as promoting manufacturers and business industries, maintaining employment, provision of housing, supporting the agricultural production and income and livelihoods of livestock herders, developing non-mining export production, and increasing loan accessibility to individuals and companies.

The Finance Minister introduced that the comprehensive plan is designed not to pose an additional burden on the state budget and government’s debts, and the measures of loans to support employment and agricultural sector will be carried out using the sources of commercial banks’ funding with government-subsidized support for loan interests. In addition, the measures of repo financing and mortgage loans will be sourced from the central bank and commercial banks.

The MNT 10 trillion plan also lays out actions to increase economic activity through intensifying the projects underway with the international loans and grants money and to finance development projects of Erdenes Tavantolgoi LLC and other projects with benefits on the economy.

The sets of measures of the comprehensive plan with total financing of MNT 10 trillion include:

each MNT 2 trillion financing for loan program to support employment /2021/ mortgage loan program /2021-2022/ and repurchasing financing instruments /2021/,

MNT 500 billion for agricultural loans /2021/

MNT 1 trillion for infrastructure development of housing complexes /2021-2024/,

MNT 500 billion for youth employment training program /2021-2024/,

MNT 2 trillion for financing large-scale development projects /2021-2024/.

A total of 10 commercial banks are issuing 3-percent interest and 3-year term loans to support employment with subsided financing from the government and support from the Bank of Mongolia and the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry and Credit Guarantee Fund. As of April 6, MNT 369 billion of loans were issued to 5,525 borrowers, including 814 companies and 4,711 individuals. The average size of the loans – for individuals MNT 37.4 percent and companies – MNT 237 million. The government is planning to provide loans to 3,500 companies and 20,000 individuals in total in order to support 120,000 job places.

In the scope of the plan, the central bank is working to provide repo financing to commercial banks with a term of up to 2 years to allow the banks to issue loans with 10.5 percent interest borrowers and re-finance the loans issued. As of April 6, MNT 221.3 billion were issued in loans to 1,467 borrowers (1103 companies and 364 individuals) and the average amount of loan - MNT 150.8 million.

With the ultimate aim to reduce air and environmental pollution, the government’s housing mortgage program provides soft term mortgages to citizens with the loan and middle income and its annual interest rate has been reduced from 8 percent down to 6 percent since October 2020. The mortgage program funding is sourced by both the central bank and commercial banks. As of April 6, some 2,609 borrowers have received MNT 542.8 billion in mortgage loans and the average loan amount is MNT 75 million.

Within the framework of the youth employment training program for 2021-20204 with the total cost of MNT 500 billion, the government is planning to spend MNT 11.8 billion to select 5,000 youths for the employment training program only in 2021.

One of the development projects to be partially financed under the comprehensive plan is the ‘Youth – I’ apartment complex of 3,000 households located in Khan-Uul District of Ulaanbaatar city. Also, a total of MNT 300 million of financing will be earmarked for loans with the 1-year term and 3-percent annual interest, including MNT 100 billion of loan financing for spring crop farming, MNT 200 billion of loans for cashmere preparation loans, informs the Finance Minister.

During the plenary session, Minister Javkhlan introduced that thanks to the MNT 10 trillion comprehensive plan, business activities will be resumed from 2021 and the economic growth is projected to surpass 5.2 percent and reach 6 percent in 2022-2024. “The low-interest loans being granted to individual businesses and companies will help cut down on business expenses and the inflation rate is to be maintained at around 6 percent between 2022 and 2024.”

International Basketball Federation (FIBA) updated 3x3 world ranking in seven categories including national federation, men’s and women’s national team, U-23 men, U-23 women, and U-18 men and U-18 women as of April 7, 2021.

According to the ranking, Mongolia’s U-23 women’s team led the world ranking while U-23 men’s team was ranked 3rd, women’s national team 8th, men’s national team 9th as well as U-18 women’s team 9th, and U-18 men’s team 54th respectively. With combined points, Mongolia was ranked 7th in the Federation (country) category.

By the way, Mongolia’s 3x3 women team has qualified to participate in the Tokyo Olympics while the men’s team will compete in the Olympic qualifying tournament to be held on May 26-30 in Graz, Austria.

China’s antitrust regulators have hit Alibaba Group, the world’s largest e-commerce corporation, with an 18.2 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) fine, the highest penalty of its kind on record.

The fine imposed on Alibaba is nearly three times higher than the 6.1-billion-yuan penalty imposed on Qualcomm, the world’s largest supplier of mobile chips, six years ago.

Moreover, Alibaba has been obliged to file self-examination and compliance reports to the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) for three years.

The company said it “accepts the penalty with sincerity and will ensure its compliance with determination.”

“To serve its responsibility to society, Alibaba will operate in accordance with the law with utmost diligence, continue to strengthen its compliance systems and build on growth through innovation,” the company said.

The fine, which amounts to nearly 4% of the Alibaba’s revenue in 2019, comes after a months-long antitrust investigation. The case has reportedly set the precedent that will enable Chinese authorities to regulate the country’s Big Tech by means of anti-monopoly rules.

According to the SAMR, Alibaba had “abused its dominant market position in China’s online retail platform service market since 2015 by forcing online merchants to open stores or take part in promotions on its platforms.”

The approach had been forcing merchants to choose one of two platforms, rather than being able to work with both. That allowed the e-commerce giant to bolster its position in the market and gain unfair competitive advantages, in breach of the country’s anti-monopoly law.

The penalty comes as the latest development in China’s crackdown on its technology companies. The country’s tech giants, particularly the ones operating in the financial sector, have been under close attention from the Chinese government, amid its increasing power.

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, the founder of both Alibaba and Ant Group, a financial platform that evolved from Alibaba’s payments service, Alipay, has recently become the focus of this intense scrutiny.

Ant’s long-anticipated stock market debut was halted in November after Chinese regulators introduced new rules on online micro-lending, a key part of its business. The China Securities Regulatory Commission also summoned Ma and other Ant execs.

The billionaire reportedly came under fire for criticizing Chinese regulators. Ma dropped out of the spotlight for months, evoking widespread speculation over his whereabouts after he gave a speech at a Shanghai conference, accusing officials of having a “pawnshop mentality” that stunted business growth and innovation in China.

BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s top disease control official has said the country is formally considering mixing COVID-19 vaccines as a way of further boosting vaccine efficacy.

Available data shows Chinese vaccines lag behind others including Pfizer and Moderna in terms of efficacy, but require less stringent temperature controls during storage.

Giving people doses of different vaccines is one way to improve vaccines that “don’t have very high rates of protection”, Gao Fu, the director of the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Saturday, without specifying whether he was referring to foreign or domestic vaccines

“Inoculation using vaccines of different technical lines is being considered,” Gao told a conference in the Chinese city of Chengdu.

Gao said that taking steps to “optimise” the vaccine process including changing the number of doses and the length of time between doses was a “definite” solution to efficacy issues.

Two injections of a vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech, when given shorter than three weeks apart, was 49.1% effective based on data from a Phase III trial in Brazil, below the 50% threshold set by World Health Organization, according to a paper published by Brazilian researchers on Sunday ahead of peer review.

But data from a small subgroup showed that the efficacy rate increased to 62.3% when the doses were given at intervals of three weeks and longer. The overall efficacy rate for the vaccine was slightly above 50% in the trial.

China has developed four domestic vaccines approved for public use and a fifth for smaller-scale emergency use. An official said on Saturday that the country will likely produce 3 billion doses by the end of the year.

No detailed efficacy data has been released on vaccines made by China’s Sinopharm. It has said two vaccines developed by its units are 79.4% and 72.5% effective respectively, based on interim results.

Both vaccine makers have presented data on their COVID-19 vaccines indicating levels of efficacy in line with those required by WHO, a WHO panel said in March.

China has shipped millions of its vaccines abroad, and officials and state media have fiercely defended the shots while calling into question the safety and logistics capabilities of other vaccines.

“The global vaccine protection rate test data are both high and low,” Gao told state tabloid Global Times on Sunday.

“How to improve the protection rate of vaccines is a problem that requires global scientists to consider,” Gao said, adding that mixing vaccines and adjusting immunisation methods are solutions that he had proposed.

Gao also rejected claims by some media reports that he said Chinese COVID-19 vaccines have a low protection rate, telling Global Times that it was “a complete misunderstanding.”

Reporting by Cate Cadell; Additional writing by Ryan Woo; Editing by David Evans and Michael Perry

On April 9, President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga delivered an address at the plenary session of the State Great Khural.

The President said:

“Distinguished members of the Parliament, and

Dear citizens,

Within my full rights as the President of Mongolia, I have submitted a draft presidential decree on providing the Cabinet with instruction.

The strict lockdown, taking effect tomorrow (April 10th), is going to continue until April 25th, as the coronavirus situation is estimated to get worse. We are also in an anticipation of the tribunal hearing, expected April 30th of 2021, in which Mongolia participates as the respondent. For these reasons, I have submitted the said decree to the Cabinet.

It has come to the attention of my Office representative a week ago that the Mongolian Government is scheduled to submit a response by April 30th to the case raised by Oyu Tolgoi LLC as the claimant at the London Court of International Arbitration.

The legal consultant, one of the world’s leading law firms, to the Mongolian Government on the said case has been advising that “by filing a counterclaim indicating the serious evidences of corruption surrounding the Oyu Tolgoi agreement and the contracts, revealed by judicial processes in 6 different countries”, and that “Mongolia should file a counterclaim.”

In other words, by issuing the counterclaim, a sought for justice, as advised by its legal consultant, Mongolia can:

renew the agreements and contracts in connection to the Oyu Tolgoi project;

protect the fundamental interests of the country, and ensure equal and fair distribution of the benefit of the natural resources; and

maintain mutually beneficial and transparent cooperation with the investor.

As a result of the successful operations of national and international courts, as well as the prosecution and anti-graft agencies of Mongolia, the crimes of the network of people who have acquired enormous amounts of illegal possessions by misappropriating national wealth – natural resources have been uncovered. We, Mongolians, have been witnessing the benefits of these discoveries, as now is the high time that Mongolia presses on the investors with strongly founded demands.

Reconciliation of the Oyu Tolgoi agreement with just principles serves a great purpose to reviving the economic security of Mongolia, ensuring welcoming and fair environment for foreign investments, reassuring Mongolia’s prestige on the international stage, and setting foot in the new era with full confidence.

I believe in the ability of the ruling power to set aside their political interests and put first the common interests of the people, who they represent as the absolute majority, and accept and resolve the decree.

As we all know, the tangible yields from the wealth coming from Erdenet copper deposit and Salkhit silver deposit, and the positive attitude of investors towards the issue of revision of the Oyu Tolgoi agreement are all thanks to the Mongolian prosecution and anti-graft agencies’ efforts to combat white-collar crimes and identify illicit overseas assets.

This is a clear manifestation of our ability to make advancements in every field, if we unite our goodwill and put the common national interests first.

I ask You, distinguished members of Parliament, to pledge Your attention and support. Thank You.”

The Office of the President of Mongolia

According to the Ministry of Health, 704 people were detected with coronavirus after performing tests on 13,591 people in 23 laboratories nationwide in the past 24 hours.

In specific, 598 were registered in over 150 khoroos of Ulaanbaatar city while 106 cases were reported in rural areas. No new imported cases of COVID-19 have been recorded.

Mongolia now has 15,718 confirmed cases of COVID-19. In the past 24 hours, 357 people have discharged from hospital, bringing the number of recoveries to 9,516. Today, 2,637 people are undergoing treatment, of whom 19 are in very critical health condition.

Newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 in rural areas in the past 24 hours: 7 new cases in Khovd, 8 in Darkhan-Uul, 16 in Orkhon, 3 in Arkhangai, 7 in Uvurkhangai, 28 in Tuv, 8 in Selenge, 1 in Dornod, 9 in Sukhbaatar, 3 in Khuvsgul, 1 in Zavkhan, 9 in Dundgobi and 6 in Bayankhongor aimag respectively.

The government of Mongolia has put the country under strict lockdown for 15 days between April 10 and April 25 with a view to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On April 9, the Ministry of Health reported that during this period, the nationwide vaccination drive will be paused and the vaccination sites will be closed amid the rising cases of coronavirus in Mongolia. The decision to halt the vaccine rollout, which kicked off on February 23, was made with a view to avoid the gathering of crowds at vaccination sites and breaking social distancing rules during the lockdown.

The decision causes a 15-day of delay in the second dose that was due from April 10 to those who had already received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccines. The Health Ministry assured that the recommended dates of administering second doses of the COVID-19 vaccines used in Mongolia, including Sinopharm, AstraZeneca, Sputnik-V and Pfizer-BioNTech, are from 21 days up to 12 weeks following the first dose and the delay does not impact the effectiveness of the vaccines.

The healthcare employees who were working for the vaccination will be mobilized for coronavirus detection and response and close contacts tracing measures.

Responding to public criticism for the decision and skepticism that the vaccine stocks may have run out, Deputy Prime Minister and Chair of the State Emergency Commission S.Amarsaikhan on April 10 informed that Mongolia has about 192,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines available in reserve. He further said that the shipments of a total of another 600,000 doses of vaccines against COVID-10, which were scheduled on April 9 and 12, have been postponed due to transportation issues.

According to Minister of Health S.Enkhbold, the vaccine rollout will be intensified from April 26 and all adult population in Ulaanbaatar city will be at least partially vaccinated within May 1 and will receive the second dose by May 31. The Health Minister also said that additional 120-160 vaccination sites will be set up during the 15 days of the ongoing lockdown to allow 60,000 people at a minimum to receive the vaccine each day as soon as the lockdown is lifted.

Although the vaccination is suspended for 15 days, Minister of Health Enkhbold confirmed that elderly people aged 60 years and older with chronic diseases will be immunized during the lockdown and mobile units will operate to vaccinate them in their homes if necessary.

Currently, Mongolia has received a total of 809,740 doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including 164,000 doses of AstraZeneca via India’s assistance and COVAX Facility, 600,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine from China through donation and procurement, and 20,000 doses of Sputnik-V vaccine purchased from Russia and 25,740 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine via COVAX Facility.

As of April 10, a total of 609,875 adult people, or 29 percent of the nationwide vaccination target has already received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccines. 488,254 people of the vaccinated population are in the capital city and the remaining 121,621 people are in rural aimags.

As the world continues to battle the COVID-19 crisis, it is instructive to look at how the private sector has coped since the onset of the pandemic over one year ago. The World Bank has conducted a series of surveys of the private sector in Mongolia, through a representative sample of 360 formal non-agricultural and non-extractive firms with 5 or more employees. These firms were interviewed as part of the standard Enterprise Surveys in 2019. Two follow-up surveys were implemented, in August 2020, and in February 2021. The survey data suggests that while Mongolia’s businesses are still going through very difficult times, there are already some encouraging signs of recovery.

Impact on firm finances across multiple measures has been widespread and increasing. Since the onset of the pandemic, nearly all firms went through a liquidity crunch; 99 percent as of February 2021, up from 82 percent in August 2020. Nearly 90 percent of firms delayed payments to their suppliers for one week or longer, up from 67 percent in August 2020. Prevalence of overdue obligations to financial institutions has shown a staggering increase from 27 to 76 percent over this period. Expectations about future financial strain has worsened as well, with 89 percent anticipating falling in arrears on outstanding liabilities.

Many firms have resorted to closing, but with the majority expecting to reopen in the future. A shockingly high share of firms has permanently shut their doors to try to at least avoid continued losses; 27 percent, up from 3 percent in August 2020. Small firms (5 to 19 employees) are twice as likely to have closed than large firms (100 or more employees) exposing a gap in firm capabilities and resiliency. However, 62 percent of the firms that permanently closed anticipate reopening in the future, providing a glimmer of hope for a speedy recovery after massive uncertainties recede.

The demand shock is subsiding, with firms appearing to gear back up to speed, though amid lingering supply shocks. The share of firms experiencing lower demand compared to the same month one year ago decreased by 20 percentage points to reach 59 percent in February 2021, which is still painfully high but representing an encouraging move in a desirable direction. As firms try to meet this recovering demand, the average capacity utilization (measured for manufacturing firms) reached 97 percent, up from 71 percent in August 2021. As part of this recovery, the share of firms that shrank their workforce as compared to December 2019 is now down to 28 percent, almost half of the level in August 2021. Supply remains difficult however, with 76 percent of firms experiencing decreased supply in inputs, perhaps pointing to bottlenecks in the supply chains.

Businesses are continuing to adjust, increasingly using technology to facilitate safety while trying to keep working. A large part of these first steps toward recovery is the remarkable flexibility of businesses, with more than half of firms reporting having adjusted or converted their production or services (55 percent). Nearly a third of businesses have started or increased their online business activity (31 percent), and 40 percent have started or increased contact-less delivery. The average proportion of the workforce working remotely has reached an astonishing 29 percent as of February 2021, up from 11 percent in August.

The coverage of government support has increased, with many businesses expecting to receive it soon. Two-thirds of businesses have received or expect some form of government support, up from 47 percent in August 2020. This is mostly due to an increase in expectations; 26 percent of businesses are expecting support in the next three months, up from 12 percent in August 2020. The government appears to use many levers of support, with some targeting to small firms, which are likely most in need.

The road to full recovery is likely to be long and arduous, with monumental efforts needed across many areas, including facilitating vaccinations and other health measures. While many businesses in Mongolia made the hard decision to close, and many others have gone through a painful process of adjustments to their workforce or their entire line of work, the remarkable flexibility shown by the private sector may be a silver lining, as we see signs of recovering demand.