Economy of Mongolia

Economy of Mongolia
	Aerial view of Ulaanbaatar, the economic center of Mongolia with the Sükhbaatar Square in the middle and the Blue Sky Tower in the background
Currency	Mongolian tögrög (MNT, ₮)
Fiscal year	Calendar year
Trade organizations	WTO, IMF, World Bank, ADB, SCO (Observer)
Country group	Developing/Emerging; Upper-middle income economy;
Statistics
Population	3,537,947 (2025)
GDP	$25.8 billion (nominal, 2025); $73.28 billion (PPP, 2025);
GDP rank	120th (nominal, 2025); 113st (PPP, 2025);
GDP growth	7.4% (2023); 5.5% (2024); 7.0% (2025);
GDP per capita	$7,201 (nominal, 2025); $20,448 (PPP, 2025);
GDP per capita rank	97th (nominal, 2025); 90th (PPP, 2025);
GDP by sector	agriculture: 12.1%; industry: 38.2%; services: 49.7%; (2017 est.);
Inflation (CPI)	10.3% (2023); 6.5% (2024); 9.0% (2025);
Population below poverty line	27.1% (2022); 2% on less than $3.20 (2022);
Gini coefficient	32.7 medium (2018)
Human Development Index	0.741 high (2022) (96th); 0.645 medium IHDI (2022, 70th);
Labor force by occupation	agriculture: 31.1%; industry: 18.5%; services: 50.5%; (2016);
Unemployment	5.43% (2024 est.); 9.9% (Q3, 2019); 16.8% youth unemployment (2018);
Main industries	construction and construction materials, mining (coal, copper, molybdenum, fluorspar, tin, tungsten, and gold), oil, food and beverages, processing of animal products, cashmere wool and natural fiber manufacturing
External
Exports	$12.65 billion (2023 est.)
Export goods	copper, apparel, livestock, animal products, cashmere, wool, hides, fluorspar, other nonferrous metals, coal, crude oil
Main export partners	China(-) 82.60%; Switzerland(+) 9.41%; Singapore(+) 2.75%; South Korea(+) 2.42%; Russia(-) 1.22%; (2021);
Imports	$4.345 billion (2017 est.)
Import goods	machinery and equipment, fuel, cars, food products, industrial consumer goods, chemicals, building materials, cigarettes and tobacco, appliances, soap and detergent
Main import partners	China(+) 36.39%; Russia(+) 28.56%; Japan(-) 6.62%; South Korea(-) 4.51%; Germany(+) 3.25%; (2021);
FDI stock	$18.02 billion (2017 est.); Abroad: $495 million (31 December 2017 est.);
Current account	−$1.155 billion (2017 est.)
Gross external debt	$33.8% billion (2023 est.)
Public finances
Government debt	180.3% of GDP (2023 est.)
Foreign reserves	$3.016 billion (31 December 2017 est.)
Budget balance	−6.4% (of GDP) (2017 est.)
Revenues	2.967 billion (2017 est.)
Expenses	3.681 billion (2017 est.)
Economic aid	$185.94 million (2008)
Credit rating	Standard & Poor's:; BB- (Domestic); BB- (Foreign); BB (T&C Assessment); Outlook: Stable; Moody's:; B1; Outlook: Stable; Fitch:; B+; Outlook: Stable
	All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.

The economy of Mongolia has traditionally been based on agriculture and livestock. Mongolia also has extensive mineral deposits: copper, coal, molybdenum, tin, tungsten, and gold account for a large part of industrial production. Soviet assistance, at its height one-third of gross domestic product (GDP), disappeared almost overnight in 1990–91, in the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Mongolia was driven into deep recession.

Economic growth picked up in 1997–99 after stalling in 1996 due to a series of natural disasters and increases in world prices of copper and cashmere. Public revenues and exports collapsed in 1998 and 1999 due to the repercussions of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. In August and September 1999, the economy suffered from a temporary Russian ban on exports of oil and oil products. Mongolia joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1997. The international donor community pledged over $300 million per year in the last Consultative Group Meeting, held in Ulaanbaatar in June 1999. Recently, the Mongolian economy has grown at a fast pace due to an increase in mining and Mongolia attained a GDP growth rate of 11.7% in 2013. However, because much of this growth is export-based, Mongolia is suffering from the global slowdown in mining caused by decreased growth in China.