IMF agrees to discuss support for Mongolia

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ "The International monetary fund has received a request from the Mongolian authorities to begin discussions of possible IMF support to Mongolia," Yuko Kinoshita, the fund’s representative for the nation, said in an E-mail Tuesday. The IMF will send a team to Ulaanbaatar soon to initiate these discussions, reported Bloomberg on Tuesday. "Mongolia received an IMF bailout loan as recently as 2009 after 'teetering on the verge of economic collapse' from the impact of the global financial crisis, the fund said at the time. The commodity-rich country recovered by riding the wave of rising coal and copper prices to post economic growth of 17 percent in 2011 before slowing with a slump in foreign investment. "Economically, Mongolia sits on the razor’s edge: Proceed with mega projects and resume rapid growth, or enter an economic ice age,' said Nick Cousyn, a chief operating officer for BDSec, Mongolia’s largest brokerage. 'It’s unclear to us what the IMF can do until they know what will happen' with developments such as Tavan Tolgoi and phase 2 of the Oyu Tolgoi project, he said. "Growth was seven percent in the nine months through September from a year earlier, according to the National Statistical Office. Foreign direct investments fell 70 percent last year from 2013, the central bank said. "The talks with the IMF will discuss any kind of cooperation that could benefit Mongolia, including a 'stand-by program', the PM adviser, Chuluunbat Ochirbat said. The IMF made $229 million available in a stand-by arrangement in 2009. "The IMF mission will begin next week, according to Kinoshita," says Bloomberg.