Mongolia certainly had a very tough time with Covid and the...

Mongolia certainly had a very tough time with Covid and the Chinese borders closing. A nation building project like this could bring income and food security to many, as well as paying royalties and taxes to the Government to help build the economy. Mongolia is a lower-middle income country with a population of only three million and a per capita annual household income of US$1,787.

A World Bank survey found that those living in poverty and households whose income was reduced by the pandemic were more likely to experience food insecurity. Many children, dependent on school meals, suffered vitamin and nutrition deficiencies. UNICEF found that 62.1 per cent of children lost weight, while 20 per cent experienced decreased frequency of meals.Mongolia relies on China for more than 60 per cent of its total trade (Nick Farnhill/Flickr)The World Bank also estimated that as many as 260,000 more Mongolians had slipped into poverty in 2020, increasing the poverty rate to 33.6 per cent, while 35.2 per cent of households reported a decline in income.To make matters worse, inflation skyrocketed to 9..6 per cent, with the prices of food, solid fuels and gasoline increasing the most. Ten months into the pandemic, meat prices in Ulaanbaatar had risen 16 per cent and fuel prices 38.8 per cent.