ADB begins new Mongolia partnership with $250 million

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Board of Directors has endorsed a new Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) for Mongolia, which envisages total assistance of $1.2 billion over the 2017-2020 period, and also approved two policy-based loans (PBLs) totaling $250 million to start implementation of the new CPS. The loans will help maintain funding for social welfare programs for the poor and vulnerable people and stabilize and restructure the banking industry during the implementation of an extended fund facility of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved.

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The overarching goal of ADB’s assistance during the 2017-2020 period is to help Mongolia sustain inclusive growth during its current economic difficulties. To achieve this, it will focus on three main areas — economic and social stability, developing infrastructure for economic diversification, and strengthening environmental sustainability. Cutting across these pillars are efforts to improve public sector management and gender inequality in Mongolia. Annual lending from ADB will amount to about $300 million a year, with PBLs accounting for about half of this amount.

“The CPS builds on ADB’s role as Mongolia’s lead development partner and improved operational performance in recent years. The CPS is closely aligned with the government’s high-priority areas, and will focus on complex projects requiring significant technical expertise. ADB has also closely coordinated with the IMF and World Bank in formulating this CPS,” Yolanda Fernandez Lommen, ADB Country Director in Mongolia.

The loans will help maintain funding for social welfare programs for the poor and vulnerable people as well as stabilize and restructure the banking industry.Mongolia’s economic performance has slowed down from 17.3% gross domestic product growth in 2011 to 1% in 2016 in the face of falling foreign direct investment and commodity prices, among other challenges. As the economic growth has declined, the fiscal deficit has swollen to 15.4% of gross domestic product, resulting in cuts to some social welfare programs. This risks reversing gains in poverty reduction in recent years and throwing the 35% of the population that is near-poor back into poverty.

Source: ADB. Read full article here.
5 June, 2017