In 2011, Mongolia’s economy grew by 17% and attracted billions of dollars in foreign investment. Now, the country is facing a debt crisis and possible default.
Mongolia’s currency is in steep decline, plummeting 10% against the dollar over the past month. The central bank has tried to stop the bleeding by hiking interest rates by 4.5 percentage points to 15%, but its efforts have fallen short.
Now, there’s talk of a rescue bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
“We are in a deep state of economic crisis,” Finance Minister Choijilsuren Battogtokh said during a national address last week, according to Bloomberg. “We may not be able to afford to finance salaries and operational costs of government departments.”
The dire situation is a sharp reversal of fortune for Mongolia, which was once the toast of foreign investors. The country of roughly 3 million people is blessed with abundant natural resources, and has…
