nonpolluting industries. The state has no income
tax and low business taxes and thrives as a tax haven both for
individuals who have established residence and for foreign companies
that have set up businesses and offices. The state retains
monopolies in a number of sectors, including tobacco, the telephone
network, and the postal service. Living standards are high, roughly
comparable to those in prosperous French metropolitan areas. Monaco
does not publish national income figures; the estimates below are
extremely rough.

Mongolia
Economic activity traditionally has been based on
agriculture and breeding of livestock. Mongolia also has extensive
mineral deposits; copper, coal, molybdenum, tin, tungsten, and gold
account for a large part of industrial production. Soviet
assistance, at its height one-third of GDP, disappeared almost
overnight in 1990-91 at the time of the dismantlement of the USSR.
Mongolia was driven into deep recession, prolonged by the Mongolian
People's Revolutionary Party's (MPRP) reluctance to undertake
serious economic reform. The Democratic Union Coalition (DUC)
government embraced free-market economics, eased price controls,
liberalized domestic and international trade, and attempted to
restructure the banking system and the energy sector. Major domestic
privatization programs were undertaken, as well as the fostering of
foreign investment through international tender of the oil
distribution company, a leading cashmere company, and banks. Reform
was held back by the ex-Communist MPRP opposition and by the
political instability brought about through four successive
governments under the DUC. Economic growth picked up in 1997-99
after stalling in 1996 due to a series of natural disasters and
declines in world prices of copper and cashmere. In August and
September 1999, the economy suffered from a temporary Russian ban on
exports of oil and oil products, and Mongolia remains vulnerable in
this sector. Mongolia joined the World Trade Organization (WTrO) in
1997. The international donor community pledged over $300 million
per year at the Consultative Group Meeting, held in Ulaanbaatar in
June 1999. The MPRP government, elected in July 2000, was anxious to
improve the investment climate; it also had to deal with a heavy
burden of external debt. Falling prices for Mongolia's mainly
primary sector exports, widespread opposition t