Representatives: Poverty has increased by 11% in a year and a half

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[size=52]Representatives: Poverty has increased by 11% in a year and a half[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad/ Firas Adnan[/size]
[size=45]Next week, Parliament will hold a regular session, the first after the election of the Presidency, devoted mostly to discussing what is known as the dollar crisis with Finance Minister Ali Abdul-Amir Allawi. Representatives confirm that the most prominent goal of this session is to take appropriate measures to control the markets and the high price of consumer goods. They revealed a clear increase in poverty rates during a year and a half from 20% to 31%.[/size]
[size=45]The Presidency of Parliament had set next Monday as a date for holding a session that includes voting on committees and hosting the Minister of Finance to discuss the repercussions of the dollar exchange rate.[/size]
[size=45]Representative Hamid Al-Shiblawy says, "Parliament's opening of the dollar price file and the need to make some amendments in it did not come from a vacuum, but after popular appeals, especially the middle and poor classes."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Shiblawy added, "The Iraqi street has suffered greatly from the rise in food prices, the failure of the security services to control the markets, and the greed of some traders and suppliers."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out, "The focus on the fact that the dollar generated state revenues and prevented a deficit in paying employees' salaries is incorrect, as there are other doors that can be used to cover these expenses."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Shiblawy pointed out that "the decision that was taken at the time was a clear result of the decline in oil prices, but today it has rebounded and Parliament reached an average of $75 per Iraqi barrel."[/size]
[size=45]He noted, "This price is sufficient to meet the complete need and face the deficit, both in terms of implementing internal obligations related to salaries, in addition to paying off external debts."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Shiblawy stressed that "the poverty rate was 20% before the dollar rate was raised, and after that it reached 31%, and this indicates that the poor classes were the first affected by this measure, which increased the poverty rate during a year and a half by about 11%."[/size]
[size=45]He finds, "The decisions that were talked about when raising the price of the dollar that the official authorities will support trade and agriculture did not see their way to implementation, and if this support actually happened, it would have been able to cover the needs of the citizen."[/size]
[size=45]And Al-Shiblawy added, "The Iraqis are demanding one of two things, either to reconsider the exchange rate of the dollar, or to control the prices of food markets."[/size]
[size=45]He continues, "Parliament will start its actual steps in this regard by hosting Finance Minister Ali Abdul Amir Allawi with a request signed by 100 deputies."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Shiblawy expects, “Allawi will attend the parliament session next Monday, based on data, the most important of which is that he expressed his willingness to appear before the people’s representatives, and that the hosting took place based on an official letter complete with constitutional and legal conditions.”[/size]
[size=45]And he stated, "Everyone is currently looking for the interest of Iraq, and the minister should answer all the questions put to him by the people's representatives in Parliament."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Shiblawy added, "Parliament will use its constitutional powers and competencies on the issue of the dollar price and will not exceed what is decreed for it, and will not accept to be part of the political targeting against any party."[/size]
[size=45]In turn, MP Muhammad Taqi Amerli stated, "The session dedicated to hosting the Minister of Finance will be held and attended by most of the political blocs, because they are discussing an important issue related to the price of the dollar."[/size]
[size=45]Amerli added, "Most of the parliamentary circles are in favor of finding a solution to the dollar crisis, especially since the Central Bank had informed us during a previous meeting that it intends to take a set of measures to control market prices."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out, "The deputies refuse to use the issue of the dollar for political targeting, but they want decisions to be taken that are in line with the public interest and extricate the simple citizen from his suffering."[/size]
[size=45]Amerli concluded, “The solution is through coordinating efforts between the Central Bank on the one hand and the Ministry of Finance on the other, with the need for all procedures to be subject to the oversight of the House of Representatives.”[/size]
[size=45]In addition, the representative of the State of Law coalition, Jassem al-Moussawi, said that “the intervention of Parliament to address the negative effects of the rise in the price of the dollar is not through a single meeting, but rather by further research with government agencies.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Moussawi said, "The new deputies are subjected to clear pressure from the public due to the current economic situation and the apparent rise in consumer prices, and the next parliament session comes as part of efforts to address this crisis."[/size]
[size=45]And he indicated, "The fiscal policy results from purely governmental decisions under the oversight of Parliament, and today we are waiting for the executive authority to exercise its role with the means it has to reduce the crisis."[/size]
[size=45]The Presidency of Parliament had held a meeting to discuss the dollar exchange rate, which Finance Minister Ali Abdul-Amir Allawi did not attend, despite a summons, and he asked to set a later date in which his name would be put forward for confidence and to give a speech about the economic reality in Iraq before the people’s representatives in the House of Representatives.[/size]
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