Ulaanbaatar
World Bank to grant financing of USD 21 million to Mongolia
Economy
Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Today, September 7, Minister of Finance Ch.Khurelbaatar and World Bank Country Manager for Mongolia Andrei Mikhnev signed two financing agreements of USD 21 million.
The USD 20 million soft loan will be spent on implementation of “Emergency Support and Employment Project” and another non-refundable aid of USD 1 million will be devoted to health sector. The “Emergency Support and Employment Project” will enable to improve operations of the Center for Employment Service as well as provide possibilities to micro business owners to enter into labor market. In addition, actions will be taken to create possibilities to exempt employees from social insurance premium, reducing financial burden of those who satisfied requirements in the time of the pandemic. The USD 20 million soft loan has 30 year term with annual interest of 1.25 percent and moratorium period of 5 years.
Furthermore, with the non-refundable aid of USD 1 million, doctors and specialists who are working in special condition will be provided with personal protective equipment
The signing ceremony was attended by Minister of Labor
and Social Protection A.Ariunzaya and other officials. “The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection has announced
2020 Year of the Transition from Welfare to Labor, making it our priority. People should be employed to get rid of welfare. And the soft loan will be spent in
order to make labor market customer-centered. The public will benefit from it
and more attention will be focused on poor families and youths. E-job platform,
which meets needs of employers and employees, will be
introduced. And the Ministry will collaborate with vocational training and production
centers,” Minister of Labor and Social Protection A.Ariunzaya said.
For his part, Mr. Andrei Mikhnev emphasized that the non-refundable aid of USD 1 million is being granted to Mongolia from the program being realized by the World Bank amid the pandemic, while the soft loan of USD 20 million will be dedicated to actions to be implemented in social protection sector of Mongolia or in other words for social insurance fund. "And both of the financing will be spent for the prosperity of Mongolia and well-being its people. With the aims of resolving issues in the social protection sector in this time of worldwide COVID-19 outbreak, tackling problems encountering to workers in the sector, the World Bank is providing this loan and grant and we would attach attention on it further", he said.
