The Central Bank of Mongolia purchased 84.1 kg of gold from legal entities and individuals last month; this was a decline by 81 percent year- on-year in February.

The dramatic decline was mainly related to the expiration of the effective period of low royalty taxes on gold with the 2014 amendments to the Minerals Law, according to experts from the Bank of Mongolia.

The 2.5-percent of discounted royalty on gold mining ended on 1January From then on,  5 to 10 percent royalty taxes on gold mining have been imposed on miners.

The Mongolian Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry, D.Sumiyabazar, has recently submitted a draft bill on extending the low royalty taxes to the country’s parliament. Gold miners in the resource-rich country are highly anticipating the discounted royalty taxes on gold to be extended.

The Mongolian Central Bank purchased only 12.7 tons of gold in 2014. Thanks to the low royalty taxes on gold with the 2014 amendments, the  bank’s annual gold purchase almost doubled to 22 tons in 2018.