The Tugrug (төгрөк in Mongolian) (MNT, Tugrik) is the official currency of Mongolia. ... For other uses of the initials WTO, see WTO (disambiguation). ... Map of countries showing percentage of population who have an income below the national poverty line The poverty line is the level of income below which one cannot afford to purchase all the resources one requires to live. ... In economics, a person who is able and willing to work at prevailing wage rate yet is unable to find a paying job is considered unemployed. ... Cranes are essential in large construction projects, such as this skyscraper In project architecture and civil engineering, construction is the building or assembly of any infrastructure. ... The El Chino Mine located near Silver City, New Mexico is an open-pit copper mine This article is about mineral extraction. ... Pumpjack pumping an oil well near Sarnia, Ontario Petroleum (from Greek petra – rock and elaion – oil or Latin oleum – oil ), crude oil, sometimes colloquially called black gold or Texas Tea, is a thick, dark brown or greenish liquid. ... Cashmere wool is wool obtained from the Kashmir goat. ... Motto: E pluribus unum (1789 to 1956) (Latin: Out of Many, One) In God We Trust (1956 to present) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City Official language(s) None at federal level; English de facto Government • President • Vice President Federal republic George...

Overview

5000 tugruk note

Economic activity traditionally in Mongolia has been based on agriculture and breeding of livestock. Mongolia also has extensive mineral deposits: copper, coal, molybdenum, tin, tungsten, and gold account for a large part of industrial production. Soviet assistance, at its height one-third of GDP, disappeared almost overnight in 1990-91, at the time of the dismantlement of the USSR. Mongolia was driven into deep recession, which was prolonged by the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party's (MPRP) reluctance to undertake serious economic reform. The Democratic Union Coalition (DUC) government has embraced free-market economics, easing price controls, liberalizing domestic and international trade, and attempting to restructure the banking system and the energy sector. Major domestic privatization programs have been undertaken, as well as fostering of foreign investment through international tender of the oil distribution company, a leading cashmere wool company, and banks. Reform has been held back by the ex-communist MPRP opposition and by the political instability brought about through four successive governments under the DUC. Economic growth picked up in 1997-99 after stalling in 1996 due to a series of natural disasters and declines in world prices of copper and cashmere. Public revenues and exports collapsed in 1998 and 1999 due to the repercussions of the Asian financial crisis. In August and September 1999, the economy suffered from a temporary Russian ban on exports of oil and oil products. Mongolia joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1997. The international donor community pledged over $300 million per year at the last Consultative Group Meeting, held in Ulaanbaatar in June 1999. Image File history File links Mongolia_5000_tugruk. ... Image File history File links Mongolia_5000_tugruk. ... Minerals are natural compounds formed through geological processes. ... General Name, Symbol, Number copper, Cu, 29 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 4, d Appearance metallic brown Atomic mass 63. ... Coal is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by underground mining or open-pit mining (surface mining). ... General Name, Symbol, Number molybdenum, Mo, 42 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 6, 5, d Appearance gray metallic Atomic mass 95. ... General Name, Symbol, Number tin, Sn, 50 Chemical series poor metals Group, Period, Block 14, 5, p Appearance silvery lustrous gray Atomic mass 118. ... General Name, Symbol, Number tungsten, W, 74 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 6, 6, d Appearance grayish white, lustrous Atomic mass 183. ... General Name, Symbol, Number gold, Au, 79 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 6, d Appearance metallic yellow Atomic mass 196. ... Official logo of the Mongolian Peoples Revolutionary Party The Mongolian Peoples Revolutionary Party (Mongolian: Mongol Ardyn Khuvsgatt Nam, Монгол Ардын Хувьсгалт Нам) is a ex-communist political party in Mongolia. ... The Mongolian Democratic Union was a coalition of political parties in Mongolia. ... Privatization (sometimes privatisation, denationalization, or, especially in India, disinvestment) is the process of transferring property from public ownership to private ownership and/or transferring the management of a service or activity from the government to the private sector. ... Cashmere wool is wool obtained from the Kashmir goat. ... The Asian financial crisis was a financial crisis that started in July 1997 in Thailand and affected currencies, stock markets, and other asset prices in several Asian countries, many considered East Asian Tigers. ... WTO Logo The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international, multilateral organization, which sets the rules for the global trading system and resolves disputes between its member states, all of whom are signatories to its about 30 agreements. ... September 2004. ...

The rapid political changes of 1990-91 marked the beginning of Mongolia's efforts to develop a market economy, but these efforts have been complicated and disrupted by the dissolution and continuing deterioration of the economy of the former Soviet Union. Prior to 1991, 80% of Mongolia's trade was with the former Soviet Union, and 15% was with other Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) countries. Mongolia was heavily dependent upon the former Soviet Union for fuel, medicine, and spare parts for its factories and power plants. A market economy (aka free market economy and free enterprise economy) is an economic system in which the production and distribution of goods and services takes place through the mechanism of free markets guided by a free price system rather than by the state in a planned economy. ... A Soviet propaganda poster reading COMECON: Unity of Goals, Unity of Action The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON / Comecon / CMEA / CEMA), 1949 – 1991, was an economic organisation of communist states and a kind of Eastern European equivalent to the European Economic Community. ...

The former U.S.S.R. also served as the primary market for Mongolian industry. In the 1980s, Mongolia's industrial sector became increasingly important. By 1989, it accounted for an estimated 34% of material products, compared to 18% from agriculture. However, minerals, animals, and animal-derived products still constitute a large proportion of the country's exports. Principal imports included machinery, petroleum, cloth, and building materials.

In the late 1980s, the government began to improve links with noncommunist Asia and the West, and a tourism sector developed. As of January 1, 1991, Mongolia and the former Soviet Union agreed to conduct bilateral trade in hard currency at world prices. Communism - Wikipedia /**/ @import /w/skins-1. ... Asia is the largest and most populous region or continent depending on the definition. ... January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Despite its external trade difficulties, Mongolia has continued to press ahead with reform. Privatization of small shops and enterprises is largely complete, and most prices have been freed. Privatization of large state enterprises has begun. Tax reforms also have begun, and the barter and official exchange rates were unified in early 1992.

Between 1990 and 1993, Mongolia suffered triple-digit inflation, rising unemployment, shortages of basic goods, and food rationing. During that period, economic output contracted by one-third. As market reforms and private enterprise took hold, economic growth began again in 1994-95. Unfortunately, since this growth was fueled in part by over-allocation of bank credit, especially to the remaining state-owned enterprises, economic growth was accompanied by a severe weakening of the banking sector. GDP grew by about 6% in 1995, thanks largely to a boom in copper prices. Average real economic growth leveled off to about 3.5% in 1996-99 due to the Asian financial crisis, the collapse of the Russian ruble in mid-1999, and worsening commodity prices, especially copper and gold.

Mongolia's GDP growth fell from 3.2% in 1999 to 1.3% in 2000. The disappointing results can be attributed to the loss of 2.4 million livestock in bad weather and natural disasters in 2000. Prospects for development outside the traditional reliance on nomadic, livestock-based agriculture are constrained by Mongolia's landlocked location and lack of basic infrastructure. Mongolia's best hope for accelerated growth is to attract more foreign investment. Since 1990, more than 1,500 foreign companies from 61 countries have invested a total of $338.3 million in Mongolia. Many believe this number could be dramatically increased if the vague 1993 foreign investment law were rewritten to provide investors with more confidence that their investments would be adequately protected.

Environment

As a result of rapid urbanization and industrial growth policies under the communist regime, Mongolia's deteriorating environment has become a major concern. The burning of soft coal coupled with thousands of factories in Ulaanbaatar has resulted in severely polluted air. Deforestation, overgrazed pastures, and efforts to increase grain and hay production by plowing up more virgin land has increased soil erosion from wind and rain. Most recently, with the rapid growth of newly privatized herds, overgrazing in selected areas also is a concern. Deforestation is the conversion of forested areas to non-forested. ...

Other statistics

Household income or consumption by percentage share:

• lowest 10%: 2.1%
• highest 10%: 37% (1995)

Distribution of family income - Gini index: 44 (1998) The Gini coefficient is a measure of inequality developed by the Italian statistician Corrado Gini and published in his 1912 paper Variabilità e mutabilità. It is usually used to measure income inequality, but can be used to measure any form of uneven distribution. ...

Agriculture - products: wheat, barley, vegetables, forage crops, sheep, goats, cattle, camels, horses

Industries: construction and construction materials; mining (coal, copper, molybdenum, fluorspar, and gold); oil; food and beverages; processing of animal products, cashmere and natural fiber manufacturing

Industrial production growth rate: 4.1% (2002 est.)

Electricity:

• production: 2.692 TWh (2004 est.)
• consumption: 2.209 TWh (2004 est.)
• exports: 8.2 GWh (2004 est.)
• imports: 130.5 GWh (2004 est.)

Electricity - production by source:

• fossil fuel: 100%
• hydro: 0%
• other: 0% (2001)
• nuclear: 0%

Oil:

• production: 542 barrel/day (2004 est.)
• consumption: 11,000 barrel/day (2004 est.)
• exports: 497 barrel/day (2004 est.)
• imports: 11,000 barrel/day (2004 est.)

Exports - commodities: copper, apparel, livestock, animal products, cashmere, wool, hides, fluorspar, other nonferrous metals

Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, fuel, cars, food products, industrial consumer goods, chemicals, building materials, sugar, tea

Exchange rates: togrogs/tugriks per US dollar - 1,187.17 (2004), 1,171 (2003), 1,110.31 (2002), 1,097.7 (2001), 1,076.67 (2000)

See also

• Mongolia
• Economy of Asia
• CIA - The World Factbook -- Mongolia