The Mongolian People's Party (MPP), which won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections last month, has nominated former finance minister Jargaltulga Erdenebat as the new prime minister.
Mongolia’s parliament voted on July 8 to appoint Erdenebat, 42, who served as finance minister between 2014 and 2015. He vowed “economic stabilisation” and “fiscal discipline” “in close cooperation with international financial institutions”, the Financial Times reported.
Mongolia’s foreign debt has surged amid a fall in government revenues mainly because of a sharp decline in prices of coal and copper, the country’s main exports. The resource-rich country has been struggling to adapt to slowing growth in neighbouring China, which buys up nearly all of its copper, gold and coal.
MPP leader Miyegombiin Enkhbayar was appointed chairman of the parliament and will likely have a big hand in government affairs.
The MPP is taking back power from the Democratic Party after four years during which the economy has gone from booming to flat. Mongolia has borrowed billions of dollars in sovereign debt since 2012, resulting in a negative outlook from Moody’s rating agency. MPP has pledged to introduce investor-friendly policies in the country’s ailing mining sector and cut debt.
MPP, which has led the country for most of its quarter of a century as a democracy, has been credited with luring investors to Mongolia.
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