Iraqi ministry says poverty decreased, locals decry lack of opportunities
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq’s Ministry of Planning on Sunday said the poverty rate in the country was slowly declining compared to previous years, but locals in Baghdad say the reality is different.
"Our expectations are that the poverty rate has decreased, and this is based on our indicators," Abdul Zahra Al-Hindawi, spokesman for the Ministry of Planning said, told Rudaw’s Anmar Ghazi.
Al-Hindawi added that poverty currently stands at 22 percent, down from 31 percent in 2020, during the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
Despite Iraq saying the existing economic outlook is promising, the situation has not changed for Abu Aya, a 47-year-old man who says he sits every day on the street sidewalks of the Iraqi capital from sunrise until sunset, looking for an employment opportunity to help provide for him and his family.
"I have been sitting here from morning until now, putting my hands on my face, waiting for someone to come and require my service,” Abu Aya said. "I have a daughter and I live in a slum paying a monthly rent of 700,000 dinars [$536] in Habibiya [neighborhood]."
The man, visibly exhausted, went on to say that, “the landlord is not patient with us at the end of the month, and one day he will throw the furniture of the house on the street."
Iraq’s poverty rate stood at about 31.7 percent during the coronavirus pandemic. More Iraqis were at risk of falling below the poverty line because of further economic hardship caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Iraq has not had a consensus since 1997 due to political and economic factors.
The Iraqi Ministry of Planning says that the poverty rate in the country is slowly declining compared to the previous years.
The ministry of planning predicts in its latest statistics that the population of Iraq in 2030 will reach 50 million, and in 2050 it will reach 82 million people, according to annual estimates. On this basis, the population increases at a rate of 850,000 to one million people per year.