Mongolians can now pig out American-style — thanks to a little help from US taxpayers.
For its customers in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital, Pizza Hut is currently offering a package deal with a meat combo “Xtreme pizza,” a dozen chicken nuggets, eight chocolate pastries, four cinnamon twists, fried potatoes, and a bottle of Coke — all for the low-low price of 40,000 tögrög.
In US dollars, that works out to about $16, nearly a quarter of the average Mongolian’s monthly income.
How did US taxpayers help introduce this fine cuisine to one of the world’s most isolated nations? The Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a US government agency, provided taxpayer-backed financing to open eight KFCs and five Pizza Huts in Mongolia. The agency classified the $7.25 million loan as “highly developmental.”
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