Government action plan fulfilled 74.5%

On Monday, the Standing Committee on Budget reviewed reports on the 2021 implementation of Mongolia’s five-year development guidelines for 2021 through 2025 and the Government Action Plan for 2020 to 2024.

Minister of Finance B.Javkhlan introduced that as of 2021, the implementation of the action plan was 74.5 percent complete. In specific, the implementation of the policy to overcome socioeconomic difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic had progressed to 88 percent, human development policy 78.5 percent, economic policy 70.9 percent, governance policy 76.6 percent, green development policy 65 percent, and the urban, regional and local development policy was 79 percent complete.

Parliament approved the government’s action plan on December 9, 2020. The government was tasked with 1,087 measures under six policies and 259 objectives of the action plan.

The five-year development guidelines include 243 measures to be implemented between 2021 and 2025 within the framework of nine goals and 47 objectives. Of these, 79.3 percent were implemented in 2021 in accordance with the general procedure for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of policy documents.

Under the guidelines, the government covered utility costs of households and businesses to help cushion the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the monthly children’s cash allowance was raised to 100,000 MNT, a one-time cash handout of 300,000 MNT was provided to each citizen, and a bonus of 50,000 MNT was provided to 2.2 million adults, Minister B.Javkhlan highlighted.

As of 2021, 40 kindergartens, 32 schools, 12 dormitories and five gyms were commissioned. In addition, the capacity of Thermal Power Plant No. 4 has been expanded by 46 MW.

The minister also mentioned that significant progress has been made in integrating 562 public services into the unified e-service system, www.e-mongolia.mn, to make public services more efficient and less bureaucratic.

He informed, “For the first time since 1992, the economy contracted by 5.3 percent, cutting state budget revenues by 23 percent due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the government aims to intensify the economy, ensure and strengthen economic independence, create the basic conditions for the implementation of Mongolia’s long-term development policy, and address the limiting factors of development in a timely manner.”

During the meeting, lawmaker J.Batjargal commented that public investment projects are in a difficult position due to rising commodity prices and that there is a need to update the price coefficients established with companies.

Meanwhile, legislators N.Naranbaatar and G.Ganbold urged ministries to pay special attention to the implementation of the development guidelines in the future and ensure the government action plan produces tangible results.

Parliamentarian Ts.Sandag-Ochir asked, “Can the economy grow this year? How do you see the economy in 2022 and 2023?”

Finance Minister B.Javkhlan responded, “This year, we hoped the economy to grow by 5 percent. However, the outlook has been revised and downgraded to 2.8 percent. Mongol Bank recently announced at a press conference that the economy is expected to grow by 2.6 percent. The tensions between Ukraine and Russia have a direct and indirect impact on the rest of the world. Countries worldwide are imposing economic sanctions on Russia. This affects us directly. The government is working to take the necessary measures to mitigate economic and geopolitical impacts.”

Chairman of the Standing Committee on Budget Ch.Khurelbaatar said that economic growth was projected at 6.5 percent for 2021 but it reached 1.4 percent at the end of the year. Meanwhile, foreign exchange reserves are declining. He also expressed concerns for inflation, which is becoming the main challenge for 2022. He views that inflation could hinder the implementation of government programs.

Minister B.Javkhlan reassured that the monetary policy has been tightened to control inflation and that all necessary measures will be taken to increase exports in the short term.