ULAANBAATAR, July 18 (Reuters) - Mongolia's industrial output rose 24.6 percent and total foreign trade 26 percent in the first half of the year, the statistics office said on Wednesday, further evidence that the economy is recovering following last year's IMF-led bailout.
Industrial output stood at 7.4 trillion tugrik ($3.01 billion), driven by a 51.4 percent surge in coal production, while trade hit $6.3 billion, the National Statistics Office said at a briefing.
The mining-dependent nation, landlocked between Russia and China, was forced to turn to the International Monetary Fund for help last year after a collapse in foreign investment and commodity prices left it struggling to pay debts. hitting a record 17.5 percent in 2011, Mongolia's gross domestic product (GDP) growth slumped to 1.2 percent in 2016 after a financial crisis saw its tugrik currency lose around a third of its value.
Growth recovered to 5.1 percent last year and reached 6.1 percent in the first quarter of 2018.
"Favourable commodity prices, along with the underground mine development at Oyu Tolgoi triggered the current economic growth," said Otgochuluu Chuluuntseren of Mongolia's Economic Policy and Competitiveness Research Center, referring to the Rio Tinto RIO.AX RIO.L developed copper-gold mine.
Mongolia's parliament recently passed a resolution to develop the giant Tavan Tolgoi coal mine and list it on overseas stock exchanges. move is expected to help Mongolia return to the double-digit economic growth, Enkhbold Miyegombo, the country's parliamentary speaker, said last week.
But Otgochuluu warned Mongolia was still too vulnerable to fluctuating commodity prices. More infrastructure was required, including additional coal delivery capacity at the border, to ensure sustainable growth, but Mongolia also needed to diversify, he said.
This month, Fitch Ratings upgraded Mongolia's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'B' from 'B-', with a stable outlook. debt is expected to fall to 75.3 percent of GDP by the end of this year and 70 percent by the end of 2020 after peaking at 91.4 percent in 2016, it said.
($1 = 2,458 tugrik)