IMF: Stable Economic Growth in Mongolia

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) presented a study on the economy of Mongolia, according to which this Asian country, unofficially called the Sixteenth Republic of the USSR in Soviet times, “is successfully implementing its economic program Vision 2050.” According to Kenji Okamura, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, “Mongolia’s economic growth is stable, and its large public debt has been refinanced and reduced.” The Ulaanbaatar government’s Vision 2050 economic program emphasizes the need to “reduce corruption” and “strengthen the capacity of Mongolian authorities.” According to Okamura, already at the beginning of the program, the Mongolian state “was able to reduce inflation and accumulated significant foreign exchange reserves.”

Over the past two years, Mongolia has been in the global media spotlight following the apostolic trip to Ulaanbaatar in August-September 2023 by Pope Francis and in September 2024 by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia and Mongolia are pursuing a number of infrastructure projects, including a gas pipeline that will run from Russia to China across the Mongolian steppes and the modernization of a former Soviet railroad that will be part of the Belt and Road initiative, known as the New Silk Road.

In the context of China – Middle East – Europe transport routes, Mongolia and Kazakhstan are working on building a highway through Russia. The new highway will connect the Kazakh cities of Ust-Kamenogorsk and Ridder, the town of Tuekta in the Altai Republic, Russia, and then cross the border to Mongolia. The 189-kilometer-long section of the project in Kazakhstan has already been built, the country’s Transport Ministry said.

Returning to the IMF report, the Mongolian government’s goal, Okamura emphasized, is to achieve “long-term macroeconomic stability through a strategy based on economic diversification, private sector expansion, and investment in skills and human resource innovation.” Finally, the deputy director of the Monetary Fund said he was “impressed” by the attention that Mongolia, despite its economic and social challenges, has paid to “sustainable development and carbon reduction.”