Autumn session of Mongolian parliament opens amid economic woes

The autumn session of Mongolia's State Great Khural, the country's parliament, opened here on Monday amid economic woes.

According to Xinhua, "this autumn session is starting in the difficult time of global price increase and drastic changes in monetary and financial policy caused by pandemic and geopolitical tension," parliamentary speaker Gombojav Zandanshatar said at the opening ceremony of the session.

"Therefore, during the session, we need to focus more on the implementation of political and economic reforms and post-pandemic New Revival Policy in order to overcome the current social and economic challenges and pressing problems of the country," said Zandanshatar.

Autumn session of Mongolian parliament opens amid economic woes -0
Mongolian Parliament building, Sukhbaatar Square. Photo: Akipress

Mongolia's gross domestic product grew by 1.9 percent in the first half of 2022, which is relatively weak compared to the same period of years before the pandemic, he said.

The inflation rate has remained at double-digit levels for the past 10 months in the country, and the real incomes and wages of workers, households and businesses are decreasing due to price increases.

In addition, the country's current account deficit stood at 1.5 billion U.S. dollars as of late August, resulting in a 2-billion-dollar decrease in the country's foreign exchange reserves to 2.4 billion dollars.

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