Mongolia hopes to double its GDP-per-capita to USD 10,000

Mongolia hopes to double its GDP-per-capita to USD 10,000 before the decade is out but that will require a huge ramp up in investments in its key mining and metals sector, the country’s Finance Minister B.Javkhalan said.

The landlocked and mineral resources-rich country derives a quarter of its gross domestic product and 90 percent of exports from mining, and is home to Oyu Tolgoi, one of the world’s largest-known copper and gold deposits in the Gobi desert. It expects GDP-per-capita to rise to USD 6,000 this year from USD 5,000 last year, aiming to reach USD 10,000 before 2030.

To realise its growth targets, Mongolia needs another two or three projects the size of Oyu Tolgoi, in which the government had invested as much as USD 10 billion, the minister said, adding the terms of any arrangement would have to be win-win for both sides. In August, the country said it had settled almost all of its outstanding tax issues with Rio Tinto over development of Oyu Tolgoi, which is owned 66 percent by the Australian mining company and 34 percnet by the government respectively. Some of those issues were still outstanding, the minister said.