In 2022, the border closure with China due to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the war between Ukraine and Russia had a cascading socio-economic effect on Mongolia. However, the economy fared relatively well in 2022 with 4.8 per cent growth. Inflation remained above 10 per cent, while the depreciation of Tugrik (Mongolia’s currency) deepened throughout the year. On the social front, poverty rate reduced to 27.8 per cent in 2020, however the GINI coefficient grew into 0.34 per cent as of 2022. The Government of Mongolia (GoM) initiated and implemented several policies, including the New Revival Policy, a post-pandemic recovery effort. The Ministry of Economy and Development (MED) and the Ministry of Digital Development and Communications (MDDC) were established in January 2022.

Mongolia ranked 109 out of 163 countries with an Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) score of 63.5, which is 2.4 per cent below the East and South Asia regional average. As the second national Voluntary National Review (VNR) concludes, the country needs to intensify the efforts to fully achieve the SDGs by 2030. As per the SDG progress analysis by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) based on the national indicator framework, Mongolia has regressed in Goal 1 since 2015, while progressing in all other goals since 2015. In particular, Mongolia met the 2022 progress target set for goals 11, 13, 16, and 17.