Mongolia to support startups to diversify economy

ULAN BATOR, Aug.1 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia will support innovative startups with tax-exemption policies to diversify its mining-dependent economy, Minister of Education, Culture, Science and Sport Tsedenbal Tsogzolmaa said Wednesday.
Startups will be exempt from value-added tax and import tariffs on their high-end equipment, she said at a press conference after a government meeting.
"Mongolia's economy is on track to stabilize," the minister said. "So it is important to implement a multi-pillar development policy based on science, technology and innovation to ... stabilize and diversify the economy (more)."
The mining industry contributes to about a quarter of the country's GDP and more than 90 percent of its exports.
Mongolia's non-mining economy was particularly weakened between 2014 and 2016 by falling investment and declining private consumption, according to the World Bank.