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MOSCOW BLOG: Has Navalny started a revolution?
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Opposition activist Navalny's call for mass protests a success as thousands take to the streets across Russia
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NBU keeps key policy rate at 6%, worsens CPI outlook
Western Balkans and Ukraine urged to scrutinise coal subsidies
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VISEGRAD BLOG: Central Europe's populists need a new strategy for Biden
OUTLOOK 2021 Lithuania
EBRD says loan to Estonia’s controversial Porto Franco project was never disbursed
Czech MPs pass protectionist food law in violation of EU rules
M&A in Central and Eastern Europe fell 16% in value in 2020, says CMS report
Hungarian vehicle makers hit by supply chain shortage
COVID-19 and Trump’s indifference helped human rights abusers in 2020
OUTLOOK 2021 Poland
OUTLOOK 2021 Slovakia
BRICKS & MORTAR: Rosier future beckons for CEE retailers after year of change and disruption
FDI inflows to CEE down 58% in 1H20 but rebound expected
BALKAN BLOG: Superstition and resentment surround vaccination plans
Albania needs reforms for e-commerce to thrive, says World Bank
BALKAN BLOG: US approach to switch from quick-fix dealmaking to experience and cooperation
Bosnia's exports in 2020 amounted to BAM10.5bn, trade deficit to BAM6.3bn
Retailers and restaurant owners threaten protests in Bulgaria if reopening is delayed
Bulgaria's Biodit first company to IPO on new BEAM market
Bulgaria’s government considers gradual easing of COVID-related restrictions
Spring lockdown caused spike in online transactions in Croatia
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OUTLOOK 2021 Moldova
Storming parliaments: New Europe's greatest hits
World Bank revises projection for Moldova’s 2020 GDP decline to 7.2%
North Macedonia plans to cut personal income tax in IT sector to zero in 2023
Romania government to pursue “ambitious” timetable for justice reforms
Private finance mobilised by development banks up 9% to $175bn in 2019
OUTLOOK 2021 Romania
OUTLOOK 2021 Slovenia
Slovenia’s opposition files no-confidence motion against Jansa cabinet
Slovenia’s government to release funds to news agency STA after EU pressure
UK Moneyhub picks Slovenia for post-Brexit European base
D’S Damat franchise deals ‘show Turkey’s hard-pressed mall operators becoming their own tenants’
Turkey’s benchmark rate held as concerns over faltering recovery come to fore
Turkish lira breaches HSBC’s stop-loss, Turkey ETF signalling outflows
CAUCASUS BLOG : What can Biden offer the Caucasus and Stans, all but forgotten about by Trump?
Armenia ‘to extend life of its 1970s Metsamor nuclear power plant after 2026’
OUTLOOK 2021 Armenia
COMMENT: Record high debt levels will slow post-coronavirus recovery, threaten some countries' financial stability, says IIF
OUTLOOK 2021 Georgia
Iran’s Khamenei menaces private citizen Trump with image of aircraft shadowing blond golfer
Iran’s technology minister indicted for failing to properly implement internet censorship
No US move to rejoin Iran nuclear deal imminent, say Biden national security nominees
TEHRAN BLOG: Will Biden bet on a quick return to the Iran nuclear deal?
Central Asia vaccination plans underwhelm, but governments look unruffled
Fears of authoritarianism as Kyrgyz populist wins landslide and backing for ‘Khanstitution’
Mongolia's PM quits amid protests over treatment of mother with coronavirus and newborn baby
Mongolia's winter dzud set to be one of most extreme on record says Red Cross
Mongolian coal exports to China paralysed as Beijing demands virus testing of truck drivers
Mongolia fears economic damage as country faces up to its first local transmissions of coronavirus
OUTLOOK 2021 Tajikistan
OUTLOOK 2021 Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan: How the Grinch stole New Year
COMMENT: Uzbekistan is being transformed, but where are the democratic reforms?
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Anxieties are mounting that Mongolia’s economy is set to pay a heavy price now that the country is dealing with community transmissions of the coronavirus (COVID-19). The nation went into lockdown 10 days ago after the confirmation of its first such infections.
In latest developments stemming from the change in Mongolia’s coronavirus status, Chinese border crossing patrols have requested Mongolian truck drivers hauling mineral exports hand in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results for coronavirus before entering China. Mining insiders noted that the biggest crossing on the Mongolia-Chinese border, Gahuunsukhaat in South Gobi, only has the capacity to access a very small amount of local PCR tests. The border customs agency in Gashuunsukhaat has sent a request to the government to immediately open a PCR testing lab near the crossing. It has also requested that Mongolian mining companies help with this matter.
MEC, an Ulaanbaatar-based research and consulting firm, has issued early research on impacts of the virus lockdown on businesses. It interviewed over 660 businesses during November 17-19. The research determined that 92% of respondent businesses have lost profit while 1% have increased profit amid the lockdown.
Some 85% of survey participants said they would like government help, mainly in terms of relief grant financing and tax deferrals. Previously the government instituted coronavirus-crisis tax deferrals for businesses that applied from April to July. The government has yet to explain how it will protect businesses during the lockdown, presently set to run until early December.
Dire situation for self-employed
For self-employed workers, there are worries things could become rather dire. The government launched an Mongolian tughrik (MNT) 5.9tn ($2.65bn) relief programme in April to help overcome economic distress caused by the pandemic, but the relief mainly went to big corporations.
The Ulaanbaatar Chamber of Commerce examined whether the measure provided any real support for self-employed workers. The survey covered 1,652 self-employed people in the Songinokhairkhan, Bayangol, Bayanzurkh and Chingeltei districts of Ulaanbaatar, and in Khovd, Darkhan-Uul, Khuvsgul, Sukhbaatar and Southgobi provinces. Researchers noted the the government doesn't have a system to keep track of or recognise self-employed workers, the main flaw that blocked flows of relief to these people. The income of 17,677 self-employed people in Ulaanbaatar was down by MNT 1.3tn y/y, they observed. And this was the situation during only a ‘semi-lockdown’, prior to Mongolia verifying its first local transmissions of COVID-19.
Cases reach 640
The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Mongolia has reached 640, the health ministry briefed on November 23. Of the people involved in those cases, 340 have been cured. A total of 214 of the cases were listed as having resulted from community transmissions recorded since November 7.
Some 93 local-transmission cases have been reported in Selenge province in northern Mongolia bordering Russia. Seventeen have been logged in Orkhon province, home of Erdenet Mining Corporation, one of the biggest ore mining and ore processing operations in Asia.
A sharp fall in world commodity prices, including in copper prices by more than $500 per tonne below Erdenet's target, means that the company’s combined woes pose an imminent threat of a shutdown. However, Erdenet said on November 22 that it was working on a comprehensive programme and set of measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus at its mines and plants.
The company said 60% of its workforce had been tested for coronavirus and all the results were negative.
The government is scrambling to contain the coronavirus having previously been focused on stopping the advent of local transmissions. Officials are under pressure to explain if administrative negligence, especially in Selenge province, has enabled the virus to get a grip. The national emergency committee has conceded that infections in Selenge spread to Zamiin Uud in southeastern Mongolia because administrators of Ulaanbaatar Railway (UBTZ), jointly owned by the Mongolian and Russian governments, disregarded COVID-19 prevention rules, allowing the virus outbreak to spread via the national railway network.
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