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Mongolia
EXAMPLES OF OUR IMPACT
- Since 2002, USAID has strengthened over 7,000 small businesses.
- USAID helped to create a special investigations unit that handles 600 cases per year, mostly related to judicial abuse of power.
- USAID facilitated business loans worth over $6.4 million since 2002.
USAID/MONGOLIA SITE
http://www.usaid.gov/mn
CONTACTS
Acting USAID Representative
Jeffrey Goodson
USAID/Ulaanbaatar
PSC 461, Box 300
FPO AP 96521-0002
Tel: 976-11-312-390
Mongolia Desk Officer
Deidra Winston
Tel: (202) 712-5377
Email: dwinston@usaid.gov
No work space, no regular jobs, and low income are problems faced by Mongolian men and women. With business loans from banks supported by USAID, many small and micro enterprises have formed business groups and generated employment for low-income groups, such as these women who are making household rope from horse tail hair. (Photo: CHF International) Overview
Located between Russia and China, Mongolia provides an important Asian example of how to manage an economic transition from a centrally planned to a free market economy within a democratic political framework. The United States values Mongolia's contribution to stability in a volatile part of the world, as well as its positive example in promoting economic reform and democracy. An extremely harsh climate, small domestic market, landlocked status, and poor infrastructure are major challenges to Mongolia’s economic development. At the same time, the country is fortunate to possess world-class mineral resources that are easily capable of raising the standard of living of its 2.7 million people.
Programs
Economic Growth
More than 80 percent of the Mongolian economy is now in private hands, a remarkable achievement for a country that, in the early 1990s, had a virtually non-existent private sector. Until 2008, the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate was consistently strong, due to political stability that attracted foreign investment and favorable world commodity prices. Falling copper prices in 2008, however, combined with declining international reserves, led to a deep fiscal, economic, and financial crisis.
Since the early 1990s, USAID has promoted economic growth by supporting policy reforms that encourage private investment and enterprise development. USAID has worked closely with all parts of the political spectrum to transform Mongolia’s tax structure and improve its investment climate. This has led to a lower tax burden on businesses, increased production, and new jobs. USAID has improved trade policy analysis and implementation, and it has helped broaden and deepen financial markets, improve corporate governance, and strengthen the banking sector. USAID has also helped develop a market-oriented regulatory environment to promote the competitive and efficient delivery of energy services.
Despite its impressive macroeconomic performance, Mongolia’s poverty rate remains high. For nearly 10 years, USAID has targeted disadvantaged Mongolians in the rural and peri-urban regions of the country by providing business development services. Since 2002, USAID has helped create or strengthen more than 7,000 small businesses, facilitated loans worth over $6.4 million, and increased the availability of business information to 500,000 people. Starting in 2009, this work will be funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food for Progress program.
Going forward, USAID will concentrate its resources on economic and trade policy, financial sector reform, and energy sector reform. It will also finance national dialogue and consensus-building, especially in support of the all-important mining sector.
Governing Justly and Democratically
Since 2001, USAID has contributed to a more accountable and transparent judiciary by improving case management, access to information, and automation. All of Mongolia’s courtrooms are now automated, and public terminals in each court make case information available to the public. USAID has trained every Mongolian judge and prosecutor, helped the Ministry of Justice administer the first qualification exam for legal professionals, and developed a legal clinic and a trial skills course for law schools. USAID also helped create a special investigative unit that handles 600 cases per year, mostly related to judicial abuse of power, and produced popular media programs that inform the public of their legal rights. While most of USAID’s judicial reform work ends in 2009, a new activity is under design to improve the judiciary’s ability to adjudicate commercial cases.
Another focus of USAID's governance work is making domestic political processes more competitive and transparent. USAID has worked with U.S. congressional experts to help the Mongolian government improve its parliamentary procedures, and it has also increased the participation of women in the political process. Concurrently, USAID has helped ensure that elections are conducted in accordance with transparent voting procedures.
Mongolia is making a concerted effort not to follow in the path of some other resource-rich countries, where corruption and a lack of transparency threaten political and economic stability. To support this, USAID helped Mongolia pass an Anti-Corruption Law in 2006. This law created the Independent Authority Against Corruption (IAAC) that is leading prevention, public awareness, and other anti-corruption efforts. USAID also supported the creation of a public campaign to engage and inform citizens, including an IAAC hotline where hundreds of corruption complaints have been registered. USAID has, in addition, supported local nongovernmental organizations and foreign experts in developing an ethics and anti-corruption curriculum that is now mandatory coursework at educational institutions.
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