🥩 Beef Is Rising Faster Than Pay

Mongolia Has a Bear Problem! And a Lasso

September 21, 2026 • Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

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Happy Monday! 🇲🇳 A major archaeological discovery in Mongolia has uncovered, for the first time, fragments of Chinggis Khan’s teachings written in traditional Mongolian script. Stay tuned to our socials for the full story, as we dig deeper into this remarkable discovery. 😎

What’s inside today’s edition…

  • 🏦 EBRD’s Current Portfolio

  • 🥩 Beef Is Rising Faster Than Pay

  • 🐻🤠 Mongolia Has a Bear Problem! And a Lasso 

We’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s get moving. 🐐

EBRD: The EBRD currently has $1.3 billion in active investments in Mongolia, with 43% or $570 million allocated to large corporations, 31% or $411 million to the banking and financial sector, and 26% or $337 million to sustainable infrastructure.

MSE: London Stock Exchange Group, the Mongolian Stock Exchange, and the Central Securities Depository of Mongolia have officially announced a joint program, “Mongolian Capital Market 2.0,” aimed at developing technology and infrastructure and establishing a roadmap for dual listings.

MNG: Mongolia and Russia plan to establish a working group on a railway project from Tuva to the northwestern border with China.

🐻🤠 Mongolia Has a Bear Problem! And a Lasso

Yes, lassoing. Mongolia is dealing with an unusual surge in brown bears wandering into towns and settlements, with roughly 80 sightings reported across 10 provinces this year. One bear even wandered out of the green belt around Ulaanbaatar on August 11, followed by 7 more reports in the capital region.

😳 They’re Feeding a Bear?

In some provinces, residents reportedly tied up bears and started feeding them. While authorities are urging people to secure food waste and avoid leaving animal carcasses exposed, some locals appear to have taken a rather more hands-on approach to wildlife management.

📋 The Оfficial Scramble

On September 15, the Environment Minister issued an order calling for 24-hour reporting hotlines, rapid-response teams, public warnings and tighter controls on food waste. Authorities will also use cameras and drones to monitor bear movements, with additional wildlife-management measures planned if needed.

  • 🫯 But Here’s the Catch: Brown bears are classified as a rare, protected species in Mongolia, meaning illegally killing one can carry a ₮12.4 million fine and potential criminal liability. The irony? If a bear attacks, citizens may have to prove that killing it was necessary for self-defense.

🥜 So, Why are the Bears Coming?

The answer is food. Poor pine-nut and berry harvests have left bears with fewer natural food sources, pushing mothers with cubs closer to human settlements. 2 bears captured near Ulaanbaatar were transported 180 km to Erdene soum and released. Whether they decide to stay there is another question.

For now, Mongolia’s bear season appears to be a mix of hungry wildlife, worried residents, and quite a lot of rope.

⭐ Selected for you

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

  • Bank of Mongolia Keeps the Policy Rate at 12.5%. (BOM) 

  • Mongolia and Russia Sign Memorandum Prioritizing Agricultural and E-Commerce Cooperation. (DairyNewsToday)

  • EBRD and GCF Launch Greening Financial Systems Framework in Mongolia. (EBRD)

  • Unitel Group has Successfully Implemented a Data Lakehouse Solution in Partnership with Dell Technologies. (EINPresswire)

  • The ADB Signed a Combined $30 Million Loan with Gobi JSC, Tavan Bogd Foods, and Tavan Bogd Foods Pizza to Strengthen Mongolia’s Cashmere Value Chain and Food Service Sector. (ADB)

  • EBRD and Mongolia: 20 Years of Partnership. (LemonPress)

  • Mongolia's coal production drops for a 3rd month in August. (MySteel)

POLITICS

  • Azerbaijan, Mongolia Eye Direct Flights Between 9 Cities. (TheCaspianPost)

  • Mongolia’s Heavy-Haul Coal Railway Faces Tough Challenges. (IRJ)

  • The New Power Line Between Mongolia and China. (PIMEAsiaNews) 

  • Six Justice Ministers in Five Years: Mongolia’s Legal Shake-Up. (LemonPress)

CULTURE & LIFESTYLE

🥩 Beef Is Rising Faster Than Pay

At the start of 2024, Mongolians could buy 100 kgs of beef with their monthly salary. Today, that same salary buys just 68 kgs. In short, meat prices have risen far faster than wages over the past 2 years.

🙂‍↕️ A Widening 2-Year Gap

Since the first quarter of 2024, the price of boneless beef has surged 94.6%, nearly doubling. Over the same period, Mongolia’s average monthly wage rose 32.5% to ₮3 million, while the median wage increased 45.7% to ₮2.6 million. In other words, beef prices have risen almost 3 times faster than the average wage.

  • 👇 Things Got Worse in 2026: The divergence was not steady. By the end of 2025, meat-price growth was still broadly in line with wage growth. That changed in the first half of 2026. Beef prices jumped another 54%, while wages increased by just 6%.

🫣 Real Wages are Falling

The pressure is also showing up in real incomes. In the latest quarter, nominal wages rose 3.1% quarter-on-quarter to ₮3 million. But with consumer prices increasing by 5%, the real wage index fell 1.8%. After taxes and social insurance contributions, an average employee takes home roughly ₮2.4 million.

  • ⁉️ The Impact is Uneven: The faster growth in median wages suggests that lower, and middle income earnings have been catching up with the average. But 12.3% of workers still earn ₮792,000 or less per month.

For households with lower incomes, which typically devote a larger share of their budgets to food, the surge in meat prices can be particularly significant. The impact also varies sharply across industries. Average monthly pay is around ₮2 million in accommodation and food services, compared with ₮5.4 million in mining, highlighting how differently the same food-price shock can affect households across Mongolia’s labor market.

Finally…  Wages in Mongolia are rising. But food and other consumer prices are rising faster, leaving workers able to buy less with each month’s paycheck. For an economy where meat is a major part of the household food basket, the shrinking amount of beef that a monthly salary can buy offers a simple measure of how quickly purchasing power is being eroded.

Sound familiar?

Over 4 million people have had the same lightbulb moment.

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Publisher: Ts.Ankhbayar
Writer: M.Khulan
Graphics by: Ts.Tselmeg

Disclaimer: The information Inside Mongolia provides is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to be or constitute financial advice, trading advice, or any other advice. The decision whether to consider the information we provide is solely our readers' independent decision.