Mongolia agrees to $5.5bn bailout plan with IMF, others

ULAN BATOR: Mongolia reached an initial agreement with the International Monetary Fund for a three-year programme that includes a $440 million loan package as part of a $5.5 billion bailout to help the north Asian country with looming debt repayments.

“The Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and bilateral partners including Japan and Korea are expected to provide up to another $3 billion in budget and project support, while the People’s Bank of China is expected to extend its 15 yuan billion ($2.2 billion) swap line with the Bank of Mongolia for at least another three years,” the IMF said in a statement released on Sunday. “The total external financing package will thus be around $5.5 billion.”

Economic growth in Mongolia slowed to 1% last year as commodity prices fell and growth slowed in China, the main buyer of the nation’s copper and coal exports. The country also saw foreign investment collapse after a dispute with Rio Tinto Plc over the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine.

The Extended Fund Facility (EFF) will support the government’s plan to address balance-of-payment pressures and also help the government repay l ooming debts, including the Development Bank of Mongolia’s $580 million bond repayment due in March.

The financing will support Mongolia’s Economic Stabilisation Programme, “which intends to restore economic stability and debt sustainability as well as to create the conditions for strong, sustainable and inclusive growth,” according to the IMF statement.

The agreement is subject to the confirmation of financing assurances, the completion of prior actions by the authorities, and the approval of the IMF Executive Board, according to the statement.

The board is expected to consider Mongolia’s request in March.

Ahead of the agreement, parliament amended the development bank law, making changes recommended by the IMF. The amendments were designed to depoliticise the bank and include a rule that board members can’t have held political office in the past five years.

Mongolia’s central bank had $1.3 billion in foreign reserves at the end of December, well below the $4.1 billion it held at the same time in 2012, when money was pouring into Mongolia’s mining sector amid the commodities boom. The tugrik fell 20% last year, fifth-worst among exotic currencies tracked by Bloomberg.

Foreign exchange reserves should rise to $3.8 billion by the end of the programme, according to the IMF statement. By 2019, growth is projected to pick up to around 8%.

The country’s budget deficit at the end of 2016 tripled to 3.67 trillion tugrik ($1.5 billion), compared to a year earlier, while total external trade dropped 2.3% and nonperforming loans in the banking system rose 25%.

“Attempts to stem the decline through expansionary policies proved ineffective after a few years, and the economy is now stagnating, weighed down by high debt and low foreign-exchange reserves,” according to the IMF.

While a loan from China was also under consideration late last year, a visit by the Dalai Lama to Ulaanbaatar caused a diplomatic row that stalled talks.

“Although China has resumed lending talks with Mongolia since the December political spat, Mongolia is more tentative about pursuing this option,” Eurasia Group analyst Emily Stromquist wrote in a recent research note.

“Although China would offer a lower interest rate, Mongolia is reluctant to further increase its already high level of dependence on China.

“Japan is most likely to provide a loan now, although South Korea has expressed a willingness to discuss lending money to Mongolia,’’ she wrote.