-EBRD marks 20 years of investment and business support activity in Mongolia
-US$ 3.2 billion of financing committed to date through 172 projects
-Bank is the largest international financial institution lender to Mongolia’s private sector

This week, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) celebrates the 20th anniversary of its operations in Mongolia and the establishment of its Resident Office in Ulaanbaatar.

Over the past two decades, the EBRD has financed 172 projects worth a total of US$ 3.2 billion (€2.8 billion) in various sectors of the Bank’s most easterly investee economy. Ninety per cent of the Bank’s loans in the country have been extended to private companies, making the EBRD the largest lender to Mongolia’s private sector among the international financial institutions.

While the Bank’s cooperation with Oyu Tolgoi, the world's fourth-largest copper mine, which accounts for close to 30 per cent of national gross domestic product (GDP), remains a landmark investment, the EBRD has worked to expand its footprint outside the extractive industries and across Mongolia's private corporate sector. From automotive retail and heavy equipment to consumer goods and food security, sustainable real estate and green finance for businesses and households, the EBRD has played a key role in the development of the country's economy.

Over the years the Bank has built close relationships with a number of homegrown corporate groups, such as MCS, MSM, Tavan Bogd and Shunkhlai Holding, supporting their sustainable growth, the adoption of green technologies and inclusive employment practices. This market segment accounts for 43 per cent (US$ 570 million, or €494 million) of the Bank’s current portfolio in the country.

By working with Mongolia’s business conglomerates and smaller private-sector clients, the EBRD is not only offering much-needed working capital financing, but also stimulating innovation and the deployment of new technologies. For example, the Bank extended its first sustainability-linked loan in Mongolia to MCS Coca-Cola to fund a modern bottling line, an e-truck fleet and the achievement of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) packaging targets. It supported the expansion of a convenience-store franchise model, creating hundreds of jobs (GS25), and introduced Mongolia's first FSSC 22000 food-safety certification (Ulaanbaatar Flour).

For many years the EBRD provided targeted support for the cashmere production chain (Mongolia manufactures around 40 per cent of the world's raw cashmere), spanning herder pasture management guidance, spinning capacity expansion, and a joint environmental impact assessment with leading producer Gobi and the Sustainable Fibre Alliance. Many of these projects have been supported by the EBRD’s Finance and Technology Transfer Centre for Climate Change (FINTECC) programme, which is designed to transfer technology in the area of climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Since providing its first loan to XacBank in 2006, the EBRD has significantly expanded its work with local financial institutions, which currently account for 31 per cent of its portfolio in Mongolia (US$ 411 million, or €356 million). Over 20 years, the EBRD's Mongolian banking sector activity has grown from small, single-purpose microfinance transactions into a core, multi-instrument channel for reaching the country's private small and medium-sized (SME) enterprises.

The roster of financial intermediaries includes both major lenders, such as Khan Bank, XacBank and most recently Golomt Bank, as well as microfinance institutions, such as Transcapital and VisionFund. The size of transactions has also scaled up from smaller deals of less than US$1 million (€0.8 million) decades ago to the largest EBRD-to-bank financing package in Mongolia's history (US$170 million, or €146 million, to Khan Bank).

The range of instruments has expanded from straightforward senior loans to blended concessional packages, risk-sharing guarantees, trade facilitation deals and syndicated structures that mobilise international capital alongside the EBRD's own. There are several flagship programmes in place: Women in Business, Youth in Business and the Green Economy Financing Facility. They help to convert partner banks’ balance sheets into an effective mechanism for deepening the EBRD's reach across Mongolia's small and micro business sector.

Sustainable infrastructure makes up the largest part of the EBRD’s portfolio in the country, at 26 per cent (worth US$ 337 million, or €292 million). It includes standalone projects, such as the construction of a 220 km-long transmission line and a 250-bed cardiovascular hospital in Darkhan, which will be become the first EDGE-certified (a green building certification system) facility of its type in the country. Under the EBRD Green Cities flagship programme, Ulaanbaatar's Green City Action addresses various challenges, from access to water, heating and affordable housing to the construction of another cardiovascular hospital in Ulaanbaatar.

Co-financing and technical support provided by many donors (such as the European Union (EU), the Green Climate Fund, Japan, Taipei China, the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative and others) have been instrumental to the successful implementation of the Bank’s projects in Mongolia. These funds are helping to de-risk and upscale private-sector lending, reducing the cost and risk of extending finance to smaller, higher-risk borrowers.

Sustainable mining remains an important part of the Bank’s portfolio in Mongolia. The EBRD has recently provided an US$ 80 million (€69 million) working-capital loan to Oyu Tolgoi, a client since 2015. It is part of a US$ 350 million (€301 million) package co-arranged with the International Finance Corporation (alongside ANZ, HSBC, Khan Bank and XacBank) to support the mine's underground development, advanced mining technologies and sustainability programme.

Since its launch, the EBRD's Advice for Small Businesses programme has supported nearly 1,000 enterprises across Mongolia with tailored advisory projects delivered by local and international consultants. The programme has also helped almost 6,000 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises benefit from specialised business training and mentoring, while a further 15,500 have accessed a range of business development and networking opportunities.

Beyond direct support for businesses, the programme has strengthened the capacity of hundreds of local consultants, helping to build a sustainable local business advisory market in Mongolia. The programme is supported by the EU, Japan and Korea through the EBRD Small Business Impact Fund and the Women Entrepreneurs Financing Initiative.

Published Date:2026-09-15