MOP announces lower poverty rates

Baghdad – INA

The Ministry of Planning announced that poverty rates in the country have decreased to 25%, and while indicating that conducting the general population census depends on two matters, it confirmed the proceeding with the employment number project.
Ministry spokesman Abdul Zahra Al-Hindawi told the Iraqi News Agency (INA): "The available indicators about poverty rates in the country, according to the latest study in cooperation with the World Bank in the second half of 2020, amounted to 24.8%, or about 25%," pointing out that " The number of poor people in Iraq is less than 10 million people. "
He added that "the first stage of the emergence of the Corona pandemic in the first half of last year, the poverty rate increased to 31.7%, or about 32%, but it returned to decline thanks to the measures taken, namely lifting the curfew and the return of work and activities to their normal state, which led to a decline in the percentage to 25." %. "
Regarding the general population census, Al-Hindawi explained that "preparations are underway in the ministry to conduct it, and there are processes to complete the requirements according to the available capabilities," noting that "conducting the general population census depends on two things: the first is the decline of the Corona pandemic, and the second is the availability of financial allocations that cover the needs of the implementation of the census, and other than That is difficult to do. "
On the job number project, Al-Hindawi said: “Work is still continuing on this project,” indicating that “there is a committee formed under the chairmanship of the head of the Central Bureau of Statistics Diaa Awad Kadhim, whose membership includes representatives from the Ministries of Communications, the Interior and Finance, the Financial Supervision Bureau, the Prime Minister’s Office and the General Secretariat of the Council. Ministers. "