www.unuudur.com » Mongolia Presidential Candidate Evokes Trump, Challenges IMF

Mongolia Presidential Candidate Evokes Trump, Challenges IMF

[Нийтэлсэн: 11:04 09.06.2017 ]

www.bloomberg.com

One of Mongolia’s top presidential candidates is seeking to reinstate a banking measure that almost derailed the country’s $434 million bailout last month as part of a populist-tinged campaign.

Battulga Khaltmaa, a candidate with President Elbegdorj Tsakhia’s Democratic party, told Bloomberg in an interview that he supports restoring a provision requiring revenue from the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine and other large foreign-backed projects to be directed through local banks. Mongolia’s parliament repealed the provision last month, after the International Monetary Fund balked at approving the funding.

“It’s not fair that we have no verification of how much exports are leaving Mongolia,” Battulga, 54, said Monday in Ulaanbaatar, noting that the country’s mineral wealth belongs to its people. “We don’t know how much has been sold, so we should have valid accounting of the revenue.”

The proposal was one of several populist policies being pushed by Battulga as he attempts to preserve the Democratic Party’s hold on to the presidency in Mongolia, a landlocked nation of 3.1 million people between Russia and China. The June 26 election comes amid a severe economic slowdown caused by weak prices for vital mineral exports, mainly copper and coal.

Battulga is a judo-star-turned-businessman who also served as a former minister of agriculture and industry. He is famous for commissioning a $4.1 million, 40-meter (131-foot) statue of Genghis Khan on horseback.

IMF Bailout

A win by Battulga would preserve the party’s platform to contest policies by the Mongolian People’s Party, which secured control of parliament in a landslide election victory last year. Elbegdorj is ineligible to seek a third term.

The IMF approved a $434 million loan package May 25 — Mongolia’s sixth such bailout since the end of one-party rule in 1990 — after the banking measure was repealed. The package is part of $5.5 billion deal that includes includes money from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, with Japan and South Korea as direct lenders.

While Battulga said he wouldn’t seek to cancel the IMF deal, he believes that Mongolia can get by without it. His economic development plans revolve on building rail networks and other infrastructure projects to help process minerals domestically rather then sending them directly to China, which bought more than three-quarters of the country’s $3.5 billion in exports last year.

Battulga said he believed no country should account for more than one-third of Mongolia’s exports. Improving the quality of the country’s exports and producing more finished products would open markets in Southeast Asia and elsewhere, he said.

Battulga acknowledged the similarities between his populist campaign against trade deficits with a neighbor and that of Donald Trump’s. “Of course, I won’t build a wall along our southern border,’’ he joked.

Battulga is facing off against Enkhbold Miyegombo of the MPP, a former Ulaanbaatar mayor and the speaker of parliament. Also running is Ganbaatar Sainkhuu, a former lawmaker known for criticizing the Rio Tinto Group, which controls the Oyu Tolgoi mine. Enkhbold declined to comment, saying that he’s not allowed to give interviews since the campaign started. Ganbaatar didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Michael Kohn



Шинээр

Mongolia Celebrates 60 Years in the United Nations
[Нийтэлсэн: 03.11.2021 ]
[Эх сурвалж: ]
SouthGobi Announces Profit Warning and Business Update
[Нийтэлсэн: 29.10.2021 ]
[Эх сурвалж: ]
Coal truckers stuck at Mongolia-China border
[Нийтэлсэн: 29.10.2021 ]
[Эх сурвалж: ]
Chile protests take toll on Antofagasta quarterly output
[Нийтэлсэн: 23.01.2020 ]
[Эх сурвалж: ]
Metallurgical coal prices starting to slip: Fitch
[Нийтэлсэн: 02.10.2018 ]
[Эх сурвалж: ]
Copper price plunges to 1-year low
[Нийтэлсэн: 14.07.2018 ]
[Эх сурвалж: ]
Global Religion and the United Front: The Case of Mongolia
[Нийтэлсэн: 11.07.2018 ]
[Эх сурвалж: ]
Thermal coal prices hit 6-year high
[Нийтэлсэн: 09.07.2018 ]
[Эх сурвалж: ]
Former Rio Tinto exec jailed for corruption in China let free
[Нийтэлсэн: 09.07.2018 ]
[Эх сурвалж: ]

Get Flash to see this player.