Poverty afflicts more than 11 million Iraqis...and planning is preparing for a new strategy

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[size=52]Poverty afflicts more than 11 million Iraqis...and planning is preparing for a new strategy[/size]

[size=45]The Ministry of Planning explained that it is conducting an economic and social survey of the family in Iraq and is preparing to complete the third anti-poverty strategy, while statistics showed that extreme poverty afflicts more than 11 million Iraqis, in addition to the presence of 6 million orphans and two million widows.[/size]
[size=45]The Iraqi citizen was affected by the ongoing economic crisis and the rise in the exchange rate of the dollar and its impact on the prices of goods and basic materials, which increased the number of poor people in the country.[/size]
[size=45]Official statistics confirmed that the southern governorates lead the poverty rates, led by Al-Muthanna Governorate with a rate of 52 percent, followed by Al-Qadisiyah, Maysan and Dhi Qar Governorates with a rate of 48 percent. The poverty rate in the capital, Baghdad, is 13 percent, and in Nineveh Governorate it is 34.5 percent, while the poverty rate is in the central governorates. To 18 percent.[/size]
[size=45]While the official statistics announced by the Ministry of Planning for the year 2022 showed the number of Iraqis below the poverty line at more than 10 million citizens, at a rate exceeding 25 percent, and that this percentage increased compared to the years 2019 and 2020, when it did not exceed 20 percent.[/size]
[size=45]New indicators[/size]
[size=45]A French study center showed, through statistics concerned with economic disparity in Iraq, that “36 billionaires, each of whom has a wealth of more than a billion dollars, in addition to 16,000 millionaires, each of whom has a wealth of more than a million dollars.”[/size]
[size=45]While the Ministry’s spokesman, Abdul Zahra Al-Hindawi, explained in a statement specifically to him (Al-Mada), that “the Ministry, through the Central Bureau of Statistics, is conducting an economic and social survey of the family in Iraq, and this survey, whose first phase began in the second half of this year from last July, continues.” For a period of 6 months, followed by the second phase, which will begin at the beginning of next year 2024 and end at the end of the first half of June.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Hindawi adds, “This survey will provide us with new indicators on poverty, and also on the poverty line, and focus on the poorest citizens at the governorate and district levels, as the outputs of this survey will be important for future plans to combat poverty in the country.”[/size]
[size=45]In addition, Al-Hindawi confirms, “The Ministry of Planning is preparing to complete the third anti-poverty strategy in Iraq for the next four years 2024-2028, and this strategy will certainly take into account the reality of poverty based on the indicators that will be produced by the new survey, as well as multidimensional poverty in the field of housing, health, and education.” In addition to income and food.”[/size]
[size=45]Projects and support[/size]
[size=45]Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Ahmed Al-Asadi, confirmed, through a previous statement, that “the measures taken by the government raised Iraq’s level by 20 places in the international poverty hierarchy, according to the United Nations.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Asadi revealed, “The loan fund of 400 billion dinars has been approved for this year within the 2023 budget, as we will work to ensure that these loans are for real projects to employ tens of thousands of unemployed people.”[/size]
[size=45]While Al-Hindawi returned and confirmed to (Al-Mada), that “the government’s measures that it took for this year focused in its first priorities on combating poverty and supporting the vulnerable groups in society of the poor, as well as important measures represented in expanding the social protection network, as quite a few numbers of people were included.” The poor at the level of families and individuals are included in the social protection network, and certainly a measure of this kind will contribute to clearly reducing the poverty rate in the country. Not only that, but there is an expansion in the process of granting loans to young people for the purpose of enabling them to establish sustainable income-generating projects, and this will also be provided with great support. For the ration card file and providing rations on a regular basis, of better quality and in greater quantities, while giving privacy to poor families regarding these food commodities, and therefore this support will have contributed greatly to achieving a state of consumer sufficiency and reassurance in general and at the level of the poor in particular. As a result, these measures What the government has undertaken during this year and future plans, with the improvement of the economic reality in the country by about a year, will have a significant impact in reducing poverty rates and improving the standard of life of the poor in Iraq.”[/size]
[size=45]Automation[/size]
[size=45]The Iraqi government, in turn, launched its electronic portal, “Ur Portal,” in September 2021. This portal contains hyperlinks to 89 government services to reduce bureaucracy and improve government efficiency. These services are praiseworthy, but the Iraqi government still has a long way to go in providing appropriate platforms for Iraqis. These services include, for example, enabling online payment services for government services and facilities.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Hindawi explains to (Al-Mada), “There are procedures, steps and policies taken by all state institutions whose purpose is to shift towards automation and digitization or to shift from traditional reality to electronic reality, and many state institutions have turned to automation of their activities and policies, and we in the Ministry of Planning are now talking about All projects in the country that have entered the electronic project management platform, and this platform includes details of the projects currently under implementation, levels of completion, financial allocations in them, dates of completion, etc., and there are also important details, which is that the job number platform, which includes the job reality in Iraq at the level employees and at the level of each institution as well.” Pointing out that, “We have an electronic system for the process of classifying contractors in Iraq, and this system has greatly contributed to easing procedures and accelerating the completion of transactions. We have also developed a new system in the Ministry of Planning to follow up on the daily mail entering the Ministry, and there were timetables for each case and each transaction and file, and with follow-up.” Directly by the Minister of Planning, and this follow-up helps a lot in accelerating the completion of all transactions entering the Ministry, whether related to projects or any other details.”[/size]
[size=45]Keep pace with development[/size]
[size=45]Iraq advanced 20 places in the list of the poorest countries in a positive development in addressing the phenomenon of poverty that is killing a large portion of Iraqis. However, this ranking is not commensurate with the size of the natural resources and wealth that Iraq possesses, the value of which ranges between 20 to 25 trillion dollars, and its annual revenues amount to Of oil more than 100 billion dollars.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Hindawi concludes his talk to (Al-Mada) by saying, “There is automation in the Ministry of Commerce, and when we talk about it, we are talking about the ration card necessary to reduce poverty rates, and soon the electronic card project will be completed for all those included in the ration card system. There are also other ministries working to automate their activities in a way Very large, as in the Ministry of Interior, in the unified card, passport, and other activities and procedures, and therefore these are important steps that will enable Iraq, in general, to ascend or move on the path of automation and electronic digitization and keep pace with the development that serves the citizen.”[/size]
[size=45]It is noteworthy that a study by the French Research Center (CFRI) on Iraq revealed the widening of the differences between societal classes in a country floating on a sea of ​​wealth and the division of society into upper classes living in luxury represented by a minority of the people and a lower class below the poverty line struggling to survive, due to rampant corruption. And mismanagement of state resources.[/size]
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