Files "Corruption" in Iraq .. Numbers and reasons

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[size=52]Files "Corruption" in Iraq .. Numbers and reasons[/size]

[size=45]Throughout the last days of the demonstrations, "corruption" has become a prominent headline that took Iraqis to the streets of the capital, Baghdad, and other cities, in protest at practices they see as depleting the country's wealth.
[size=45]The October 2019 demonstrations were not the first of its kind against corruption in Iraq.The city of Basra in the south of the country during the summer of 2018, similar demonstrations condemned the poor public services and corruption, and demanded jobs and reforms in government agencies.[/size]
[size=45]However, the current demonstrations, the most bloody, clearly, killing more than 100 people and injuring thousands, according to official statistics, during an unprecedented protest movement in Baghdad and several southern provinces, condemned the performance of the government, and called for the prosecution of corrupt and combat unemployment and the provision of public services .[/size]
[size=45]The demonstrations that began last Tuesday witnessed violence, gunfire and burning of a number of political party headquarters, which the demonstrators accuse of being behind the acts of corruption in the country.[/size]
[size=45]In return, Iraqi authorities accused “unidentified snipers” of shooting at security forces and civilians.[/size]
[size=45]On Saturday, the Iraqi government issued a series of resolutions, which it described as "important", during an extraordinary session held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, in response to the demands of participants in the protests.[/size]
[size=45]The new resolutions included 17 paragraphs, most notably facilitating access to residential land, building new units, in addition to granting 175 thousand dinars (about $ 145) per month to the unemployed, for three months.[/size]
[size=45]The decisions also included the establishment of modern "marketing complexes" commercial areas in Baghdad and the provinces.[/size]
[size=45]The “Corrective Decisions” package is clearly aimed at improving the lives of citizens and mitigating the effects of corruption that is shaking the body of the Iraqi state.[/size]
[size=45]Although the country is rich in wealth, many Iraqis are unable to provide for a living, and ranked 12th in the list of the most corrupt countries in the world, according to reports Transparency International.[/size]
[size=45]Corruption swallowed hundreds of billions[/size]
[size=45]The march of corruption "swallowed" billions of dollars, it is reported that, since 2003, the country lost by corruption operations about 450 billion dollars.[/size]
[size=45]Unemployment has been on the rise, estimated by the Central Bureau of Statistics in Baghdad this year at 23 percent, while the International Monetary Fund announced in mid-last year that the youth unemployment rate has reached more than 40 percent.[/size]
[size=45]According to the Iraqi Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, Iraq's oil resources account for 89 percent of its budget, accounting for 99 percent of its exports, but provides only 1 percent of jobs in national labor.[/size]
[size=45]Although the volume of oil reserves in Iraq amounts to about 112 billion barrels, poverty haunts about a quarter of Iraqis, with more than 22 percent, and in some provinces of the south to more than 31 percent.[/size]
[size=45]Inflated expenditures have created the largest budget deficit, reaching $ 23 billion this year and expected to exceed $ 30 billion by 2020, according to the Finance Committee of the Iraqi Council of Representatives.[/size]
[size=45]The Iraqi economy suffers many other problems, such as lack of industry, the collapse of infrastructure, poor performance of the agricultural sector, commercial, and worsening security problems and weak law sector.[/size]
[size=45]According to a lengthy report by the Washington Institute for Near East Studies published months ago, one Iraqi study estimated that financial corruption depleted about 25 percent of public money.[/size]
[size=45]About a year ago, the Iraqi media dealt with about 800 files of corruption, under investigation.[/size]
[size=45]International sources agree that the record of corruption in Iraq has worsened in the past decades.[/size]
[size=45]Quotas[/size]
[size=45]Iraqi political commentators often point out that the main cause of corruption in the country is the distribution of official or government positions among political groups under what is known as quotas.[/size]
[size=45]Some argue that quotas have made corruption "commonplace" in Iraqi institutions and entrenched it in the political system, according to a report by the Washington Institute for Near East Studies.[/size]
[size=45]Others claim that political parties in Iraq are manipulating the consensual system to achieve their own interests.[/size]
[size=45]The quota system, according to the Washington Institute report, has political, economic and legal characteristics that systematically promote and strengthen corruption.[/size]
[size=45]Politically, quotas allow easy access to the government, as well as allocating jobs to supporters of political parties in power.[/size]
[size=45]Because of this system, party members in government work for the party, rather than the government or the people they represent. Thus, political groups are more concerned with controlling and staying in departments rather than pursuing a particular political agenda.[/size]
[size=45]Economically, political groups gain access to public money and monopolize economic activities in the market, according to the report.[/size]


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