Mongolia’s gross domestic product (GDP) decreased by 7.3 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters of this year, local media reported on Thursday, citing the country’s National Statistics Office (NSO).

The country’s GDP dropped to 26.4 trillion Mongolian tugriks (over 9.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-September period, the NSO said in a statement.

The decrease is directly related to restrictive measures to contain the spread of COVID-19, according to the experts from the statistical agency.