Economy of the Mongolian People's Republic

Economy of the Mongolian People's Republic
	Sheep grazing near the Bogd Khan Mountain. Agriculture was a critical sector of Mongolia's economy, accounting 60-90% of exports and 45% of the labor force in 1985.
Currency	Mongolian tugrik (MNT, ₮)
Fiscal year	1 January–31 December; (calendar year)
Trade organisations	Comecon, ESCAP
Statistics
GDP	$1.7 billion (1989)
GDP per capita	$880 (1985)
GDP by sector	industry: 32.4%; agriculture: 18.3%; construction: 4.9%; transport and communications: 11.2%; services: 31.6%; (1985 est.);
Labour force	447,300 (1975)
Labour force by occupation	industry: 21.4%; agriculture: 45.0%; construction: 5.8%; transport and communications: 5.9%; services: 21.7%; (1975 est.);
Main industries	Processing of animal products, building materials, food and beverage, mining (particularly coal)
External
Exports	$388 million (1985)
Export goods	Livestock, animal products, wool, hides, fluorspar, non-ferrous metals, minerals (1985)
Main export partners	Comecon 94.2%; (80% with the Soviet Union); China & North Korea 2.5%; non-communist countries 3.3%; (1986 est.);
Imports	$1.0 billion (1985)
Import goods	Machinery and equipment, fuels, food products, industrial consumer goods, chemicals, building materials, sugar, tea (1985)
Main import partners	Comecon 96.7%; (80% with the Soviet Union); China & North Korea 1.6%; non-communist countries 1.7%; (1986 est.);
Public finances
Revenues	$2.2 billion (1987)
Expenses	$2.19 billion, including capital expenditures of $0.9 billion (1987)
Economic aid	~$500-$700 million annually from the USSR ; (Soviet assistance from 1955 to 1983 is estimated to be worth $7 billion)
	All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.

The economy of the Mongolian People's Republic (Mongolia; MPR) was a command economy, modeled after the Soviet Union, based on the principles of Marxism-Leninism. Unlike the economies of other Eastern Bloc countries, Mongolia's economy had never undergone a capitalist period before its socialist phase. Thereby, an entirely new path of "non-capitalist way of development" had been implemented in the MPR and the Central Asian Soviet Republics.

Prior to 1991, 80% of Mongolia's trade was with the Soviet Union, and 15% was with other countries of Comecon. Throughout its existence, the MPR was heavily dependent upon the Soviet Union for fuel, medicine, and spare parts for its factories and power plants. The USSR served as the primary market for Mongolian industry. In the 1980s, Mongolia's industrial sector became increasingly important. By 1989, it accounted for an estimated 34% of material products, compared to 18% from agriculture. However, minerals, animals, and animal-derived products still constituted a large proportion of the country's exports. Principal imports included machinery, petroleum, cloth, and building materials.

The political changes of the late 1980s and the democratic revolution in 1990 marked the beginning of Mongolia's efforts to transition to a market economy; however, these efforts have been complicated and disrupted by the dissolution and subsequent deterioration of the Soviet economy.