The Mongolian national budget does not make enjoyable reading. Like all budgets, Harry Potter it is not. It is more of a cure for insomnia. Nevertheless, I am doing my best to work my way through the 2013 budget and wrap my brain around where money goes in the country. And, every so often I find something in the budget that is actually interesting. Let me share one of those tidbits here.
The President’s office has requested 335 million MNT (approx. 241 thousand USD) for a program that sends birthday letters to citizens that turn 18 years old in Mongolia each year.1 A few months ago my neighbor’s nephew received one of these letters in the mail. At the time we all thought it was his official request to report to the nearest duty station for military service, but when he opened the letter, we were all surprised to see a letter from President Elbegdorj congratulating him on turning 18 years old and wishing him great luck in the future. The letter also contained a beautiful set of decorative postage stamps. It was actually quite a nice gesture, and I even thought it was brilliant politicking, especially when my neighbor said she didn’t recall her daughter receiving a similar letter when she turned 18 and Enkhbayar was president. Send new voters a personal letter reminding them who you are. Very smart. The potential political benefits of sending the letters made me assume that this was something the president’s political party or his own campaign funds paid for. But, the budget proved that assumption wrong. It is instead something that the public pays for. Fair enough. The president is the head of state, and he therefore represents all Mongolians. There is no one better in government to send such letters, and presumably other presidents in the future from other political parties will have the option to continue the program.
In the US, politicians love to cherry pick items in the federal budget to prove how taxpayer money is being wasted. I personally dislike this tactic, because it is generally used as a way to distract people from real waste. If people argue about $100,000 used to fund research on the sexual habits of bees, then they are not arguing about the $10 billion spent on some out-dated military weapon system that is arguably a bigger waste of money. So, I want to caution anyone reading this from thinking this post is a government-wastes-your-money screed based on a single cherry picked program. A budget is supposed to be a national priority list, a sort of new year’s resolution of things the nation intends to accomplish in the coming year. What is a waste to one person is an important expenditure to another, and elections are held to determine whose opinion will hold sway from year to year. I can see the value in researching the sexual habits of bees, but I see each cruise missile lobbed at a collapsing regime as money that could have been spent on other research–such as the sexual habits of ants, perhaps? But, others may see it differently.
That high-minded rationalization aside, it still is important for everyone to question whether funds are being spent effectively on bees or missiles or birthday wishes. According to the National Census in 2010, there were exactly 49,991 sixteen year olds in Mongolia.2 That cohort turned 18 this year. How many people will turn 18 in 2013? Using the difference in population between 17 year olds and 16 year olds in 2010 and assuming a similar difference between 16 year olds and 15 year olds in that year, I estimate that approximately 54,490 people will turn 18 in 2013. That means the president’s program will cost taxpayers 6,150 MNT (4.42 USD) per birthday wish.
The government has a projected budget deficit of 360.9 billion MNT (259.6 million USD) in 20133, so this program is definitely small potatoes. Even if it were suspended, it wouldn’t make a dent in the deficit. It is also arguably a nice sounding program with a commendable objective of making young adults reflect on their futures and responsibilities to themselves and society at large.4 But, I was struck by the price tag. What else can you get for 6,150 MNT? Seven loaves of bread. A kilo of mutton with bones. Six snickers bars. Two meals at a gyanz (canteen). Three hundred eighty-five sheets of A4 paper. One hundred twenty-three envelopes. Domestic postage for eight letters. See where I am going with the last three examples? In other words, you can do a lot more than send a letter wishing someone a happy birthday. It is practically enough to buy them a decent gift…I guess that is what the decorative postage stamps are meant to be.
Footnotes
1. Монгол улсын 2013 оны төсвийн танилцуулга, http://www.iltod.gov.mn/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Taniltsuulga-2013.pdf, p. 49.
2. National Statistics Office, ‘2010 Census by Soum and District’, http://www.toollogo2010.mn/doc/sum,duurgeer.pdf, p. 1
3. Монгол улсын 2013 оны төсвийн танилцуулга, http://www.iltod.gov.mn/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Taniltsuulga-2013.pdf, p. 13.
4. See the program description in Монгол улсын 2013 оны төсвийн танилцуулга, http://www.iltod.gov.mn/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Taniltsuulga-2013.pdf, p. 49.