Prime Minister J.Erdenebat received domestic business representatives led by the Board of the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI) to discuss the tax environment and other challenges being faced by businesses, and to exchange views on solutions to overcome financial difficulties. Beginning the meeting, the PM noted that the Cabinet’s action program approved by Parliament reflected suggestions from all sectors. “In the future, before making any decision, we will meet with professionals and representatives from entities and public organizations from every sector. The activities of businesses and the government need to be connected, and their interests should be represented equally, all in one line. We will create a joint working group in the near future,” PM J.Erdenebat underlined. During the meeting, business and MNCCI representatives spoke about their challenges and presented suggestions for measures to tackle the issues. President of Nomin Holding Sh.Bayarsaikhan suggested creating a business council under the PM in charge of implementing the Law on VAT at all entities, and making entity income tax more flexible. The majority of the business delegation underlined the need for creating competitiveness in the nation’s banking sector, which issues loans with up to 25 percent annual interest rates. They claimed that nothing would be wrong if one integrated loan interest rate was set. They said that the nation’s biggest companies are in debt to foreign investors, mid-size companies owe money to banks and financial organizations, and their employees have debt owed to pawnshops. Many of them said that entities are not able to issue salaries to their workers due to high interest rate payments. Head of the Human Resources Department of Jur Ur B.Munkhzul said that an amendment is needed for the Law on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. She said that according to the current law, entities with less than 1.5 billion MNT in annual income and fewer than 50 employees are referred to as small or medium-sized enterprises. She said that even though Jur Ur is not considered a big business, it is not included in the small and medium sized enterprise category because it exceeds its limits according to the law. “Because of this, we are not able to be involved in any projects and programs for small and medium-sized enterprises,” she claimed. The meeting attendees stressed that the state’s policy on industry should focus on supporting developing businesses instead of building new factories, and create technology-based economic immunity with Mongolian human resources. The MNCCI presented a letter to Prime Minister J.Erdenebat which addresses the challenges being faced by taxpayers, along with solutions and cooperation proposals for monetary policy and macroeconomic directions. At the end of the meeting, PM J.Erdenebat said that in his next meeting with businesses he will meet with representatives from Narantuul Market to hear their suggestions.