IRREGULAR MEETING OF PARLIAMENTARY SESSION OPENS

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia /MONTSAME/ The State Great Khural opened its irregular plenary meeting at 11.25 am (local time) on Monday. The Speaker D.Demberel said in the opening speech that session has been called to urgently discuss pensions and salaries rise of state servants. "A legal basis will be strengthened for salary and pensions rise from February 1 through May 1 by clarifying the budget for 2012," he said. The inflation rate might go up, "but if we wisely deal with the situation, the action can become one of the methods of the state to improve a labor evaluation and a purchasing power of the Mongolians and to support the production,” he stressed. He went on that the balanced income of budget is expected to reach MNT 6.4 trillion after making the clarification into the 2012 budget, and the income per month will reach MNT 500 billion. The budgetary deficit is expected not to go above 2.9 per cent at the Gross Domestic Product's (GDP) amount. The irregular meeting is also supposed to consider and approve a draft amendment to the law on local election. “If the factions of the political parties can reach an agreement in this issue, this meeting will finish earlier,” the Speaker said. The meeting will discuss draft amendments to the laws on legal status of lawyer and judge. As scheduled, the irregular plenary meeting will finish on March 7. B.Khuder