The economic shocks of the last few years have hit the Mongolian economy hard, accentuating some of its structural weaknesses. In response to challenges, and to facilitate the country’s recovery, the Government of Mongolia has adopted the New Recovery Policy, which aims to support recovery and growth by addressing six key economic constraints: trade ports, energy, industrialisation, urban and rural development, green development, and effective governance.

As this report shows, the Government of Mongolia has come a long way in supporting the sustainable economic recovery of the country. Nevertheless, there is still scope to maximise the effectiveness of its policies and to strengthen the resilience of the economy to economic shocks. In particular, diversifying away from a dependency on coal and extractive industries offers significant opportunities for Mongolia to ‘green’ its future growth. Doing so will help Mongolia address environmental and climate hazards facing the country and meet the Sustainable Development Goals. However, there are also significant transitional challenges that need to be understood and navigated.

This report lays out the structural challenges facing Mongolia’s economy, and offers a number of policy recommendations for the Government of Mongolia to help maximise the effectiveness of the New Recovery Policy.