Parliament Speaker D.Demberel last week discussed the 4th stage of the “Stand-by” program Mongolia is jointly implementing with the IMF, with Steven Barnett, Permanent Representative of the Fund here, and Rogier van den Brink, a senior economist of the World Bank for Mongolia. Mr. Barnett felt Mongolia has passed the worst of the crisis and entered a stage of economic revival. Lauding Mongolia’s success in following a successful path, Barnett cautioned about “challenges at the policy level that lie ahead”.

Van den Brink was happy international organizations have been able to offer help as Mongolia battled the crisis. The International Development Association (IDA) will give USD10 million more than the initially promised USD20 million and another USD12 million as technical assistance.

The Speaker thanked both institutions for their constant support and was happy they thought Mongolia would grow 9% this year. The country’s own projection was a growth rate between 7-8 percent. He said Parliament would finish discussing a draft law on budget stability in the next session, and would soon propose revised policies on social welfare.

Audit of all commercial banks is also under consideration.