ULAN BATOR, April 18 (Xinhua) -- The Mongolian government has approved a national program to promote the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), local media reported Thursday, citing the government's press office.
"SMEs make a huge contribution to every country's socio-economic development. The majority of our country's enterprises are SMEs, and promoting these enterprises are of great significance to economic development," the press office said in a statement.
The two-stage development program, which covers a period from 2019 to 2022, plans to allocate funds to SMEs issued from the country's annual state and local budgets as well as foreign aid and loans.
It is expected to help SMEs modernize, improve the efficiency and competitiveness of products, and produce more import substitutes.
Official data shows that SMEs contribute to 17.3 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). The program aims to raise the contribution to 21 percent and to creat at least 30,000 new jobs across the country.
According to official data, more than 78,000 out of 155,000 total registered enterprises were operating in the country as of the end of 2017, of which over 60,000 were SMEs.
