Mongolia shut down a $10 million government bond auction on Wednesday after receiving no bids, the central bank said, in what analysts said was a fresh sign of the resource-rich country's economic struggles. The 20 billion tugrik ($10.2 million) bond remained unsold due to an "absence of both competitive and non-competitive bids", the Bank of Mongolia said in a statement on its website.
The bond is one of a handful of bonds planned by the central bank and sold regularly throughout the year. The landlocked country, wedged between China and Russia, has sought in recent years to settle on a government policy that balances resource nationalism with the development of its estimated $1.3 trillion in unexploited mineral deposits.
The prolonged struggle has led to economic turbulence, with the central bank's failed bond auction the latest symptom of systemic troubles. "There have been several failed auctions by Mongol Bank over the last six to nine months," said Nick Cousyn, chief operating officer of BDSec JSC, Mongolia's largest stock brokerage.