Time for Reflection

I used to wonder, like most people in Mongolia, how a nation with so many mineral resources and natural wealth can be so poor and underdeveloped. Coal, copper, oil, gold and silver - Mongolia has it all and yet, around a third of the nation lives below the poverty line, struggling to live day to day.

The middle class isn’t doing well either. When it comes to high inflation, bad policies, corruption and bureaucracy, the regular folks operating small and medium sized businesses carry most of the load.

In every new term of an administration, the new government tries to undo what the previous one did with the promise to build things correctly “this time.” The same old pattern is observed by everyone, and the nation has lost faith in its leaders. Some would say “this is democracy.” These are the things so many gave their lives for so that the next generation could live better.

Recent events have had the authorities panicking. Government revenue is down because coal exports fell nearly 50 percent this year due to less demand from China, Mongolia’s biggest buyer. Oyu Tolgoi, the biggest undertaking in Mongolia, is in dispute over finance and just laid off 1,700 workers, and Mongolia’s currency value is falling rapidly. The development projects to be funded by the 1.5 billion USD Chinggis Bonds are experiencing delay after delay. And foreign investors are leaving the country because of political uncertainty. Some ministers are said to be losing sleep over these issues.

To the small folks who run roadside cafes and sell merchandise at the market, ministries have helped little, if at all, and their help would probably not be beneficial to those for which it was intended. Yet, these are the people who serve as the backbone of the country. For all its promises to support domestic companies, the state hasn’t done much but talk. The talks only scared away the foreign businesses.

The only projects doing well from the Chinggis Bond money are the road constructions in the capital and provinces. The 200 million USD for the railways, 70 million USD for cashmere, 30 million USD for milk and dairy, 45 million USD for textiles, and the Sainshand Industrial Complex projects are all collecting dust.

And now the parliament is said to be holding an emergency session next month. No doubt, the irregular session will attempt to bring back foreign investors, but the talks of old men in white collars aren’t going to bring help to suffering businesses all over the country anytime soon. Even...