On May 17, the National Statistics Office (NSO) gave following statistical information regarding the first four months.
The total state budget income and aid, as of April, reached 7.1 trillion MNT in preliminary records.
According to the Head of the NSO, D.Baasan, this is an increase of 1.8 trillion MNT or 34.9 percent from the same period last year. However, the balanced income reached 6.7 trillion MNT, an increase of 39.4 percent compared to the same period last year. The total expenditure of the unified state budget and the total amount of repayable net loans amounted to 5.6 trillion MNT, and the balanced balance showed a profit of 1.1 trillion MNT.
In the first four months of this year, Mongolia traded with 134 countries, and the foreign trade turnover was 7.7 billion USD, of which 5.1 billion was exported and 2.7 billion USD was imported.
Total turnover increased by 50 percent, exports by 81.8 percent, and imports by 310.5 million USD compared to the same period of the previous year. However, in April of this year, exports decreased by 199 million USD, and imports by 20.2 million USD compared to the previous month.
The foreign trade balance in the first four months showed a surplus of 2.4 billion USD, an increase of 5.4 times compared to the same period of the previous year.
According to the National Statistics Office, trade with China in these months amounted to 5.7 billion USD, which is 74.2 percent of the total turnover of foreign trade. Coal accounted for 64 percent of goods exported to China, copper concentrate accounted for 18 percent, while gold accounted for 99.9 percent of goods exported to Switzerland. in the mentioned period, exports increased by 2.3 billion USD compared to the same period last year, mainly due to the increase of 2 billion USD in coal, 67 million USD in canned meat products, 48.5 million USD in iron ore and concentrates, 44.2 million USD in horse meat, and 41.5 million USD in fluorspar ore and concentrates.
In April, the average border price of gold increased by 3,000 USD per kilogram, the average border price of iron ore and concentrate increased by four USD per ton, while the average border price of copper concentrate decreased by 73.5 USD per ton, and the average border price of coal decreased by 10 USD per ton. In April, the physical volume of coal exports reached 5.5 million tons, which is 0.7 million tons less than the previous month.
Mongolia conducted trade mostly with China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, the USA, and Germany. Petroleum products accounted for 71.7 percent of goods imported from Russia, passenger cars accounted for 67 percent of goods imported from Japan, and trucks accounted for 10.5 percent of goods imported from China.
Imports increased by 310.5 million USD compared to the same period of the previous year. The reason for the increase was, diesel fuel increased by 127.7 million USD, trucks by 79 million USD, bulldozers, levelers, and excavators by 28.1 million USD, public transport vehicles by 21.7 million USD, new tires by 21.2 million USD, and passenger cars by 20.2 million USD.
Exports of mineral products, precious stones, metals, jewelry and textile products account for 93.6 percent of total exports, while 76.7 percent of imports are mineral products, machinery and equipment, electrical appliances, vehicles, their parts, basic metals and products made from them, and ready-to-eat foods.
Monthly household income decreased by 47,500 MNT
According to the results of the first quarter of 2023, the average monthly income of the household was 1.9 million MNT, which increased by 101,100 MNT from the same period of the previous year, and by 39,900 MNT from the previous quarter.
The average real monthly income of one household, or the price-adjusted amount, reached 1.2 million MNT in the first quarter of this year, which is a drop of 47,500 MNT compared to the same period last year. However, this figure is an increase of 13,500 from the preceding quarter.
According to the report, the reason for the drop in real total income was caused by the decrease of 52,600 MNT in real income from pensions and allowances.
In addition, the average monthly cash income of the household reached 1.8 million MNT in the first quarter of 2023, which increased by 134,300 MNT from the same period last year.
As of the first quarter, 59.2 percent of the average income of a household with a cash income of 500,000 to 900,000 MNT per month is generated by pensions and allowances.
Apartment prices in UB grew by 10%
Apartment prices in Ulaanbaatar increased by 9.9 percent in April this year and by 0.2 percent compared to the previous month.
According to the data of the National Statistics Office, in April, the average price per square meter of a new apartment was 3.53 million MNT, and the highest value was 3.84 million MNT in Khan-Uul district. However, the average price per square meter of an old apartment was 3.34 million MNT, and the highest price was 4.17 million MNT in Chingeltei district.
Workforce dropped by 4%
As of the first quarter of the year, 1.2 million of the total population aged 15 and over are in the labor force and 916,500 are out of the labor force.
From the work force, 93.4 percent or 1.1 million are employees. This number decreased by 47,000 or 4.1 percent from the previous quarter. The NSO reported that the number of unemployed people decreased by 25,600, while the population outside the labor force increased by 23,600.
Chief statistician of the NSO’s Policy and Foreign Relations Department S.Norov clarified that labor statistics are obtained from the Labor Force Survey results of the NSO.
