d to be erratic. GDP declined slightly in 2000, with a
serious drought hurting agriculture. Growth should turn positive in
2001.

Monaco:
Monaco, situated on the French Mediterranean coast, is a
popular resort, attracting tourists to its casino and pleasant
climate. The Principality has successfully sought to diversify into
services and small, high-value-added, 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, which was prolonged by the
Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party's (MPRP) reluctance to
undertake serious economic reform. The Democratic Coalition (DC)
government has embraced free-market economics, easing price
controls, liberalizing domestic and international trade, and
attempting 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 DC. 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