The American Chamber of Commerce in Mongolia (AmCham Mongolia)  has presented the results of a survey on the business environment in Mongolia. The survey was conducted by the Sant Maral Foundation with the support of USAID.

The survey was conducted nationwide among 1,500 adult citizens from the capital and rural areas outside of Ulaanbaatar. Although the survey was led by a foreign organization, no foreigners took part in the survey. Sources have stated that the survey was very fair and there were no conflicts of interest from the Mongolian side, producing accurate and up to date results.

According to the survey, the private sector is considered the most reliable sector in the Mongolian economy. 

Of those involved in the survey. 66.9 percent believe that today’s business environment is not favorable,  and 22.8 percent evaluated it as favorable. Participants in the survey felt that there have been no positive changes to the business environment and economy during the last six months, and 1 of 5 believed that there will be positive changes in the next six months.  

Mongolians today are more worried about economic difficulties rather than their living environment, pollution, and health.

Fifty percent of all participants thought that the instability of the macro economy, fiscal deficiencies, and foreign debt will unpleasantly influence the development of businesses. 

The following organizations were said to be barriers to business owners in Mongolia: taxation organizations (19.6 percent), local administrative organizations (17.4 percent), and the State Specialized Inspection Agency (11.2 percent).

Aside from these challenges, the most important dilemmas facing the population were unemployment (39.2 percent), poverty (21.9 percent), and inflation (19.1 percent).