Monday, February 7, 2011
Trade Minister to address ration card cuts in parliament
Baghdad, A deputy from the Wasat Movement said on Monday that Trade Minister Rozh Nuri Shaways has been summoned to parliament to discuss the government’s controversial food subsidizing ration card cuts, central to many of the public protests arising in Iraqi cities in recent days.
Mohammad Iqbal told AKnews that Parliament Speaker Osama Nujaifi cut short discussions about the ration card during the 30th parliamentary session today at the request of a number of deputies who called for the Trade Minister to be present during the talks, “so that the discussions would be effective and have useful results,” Nujaifi said.
Last year the Trade Ministry announced cuts to the ration card system that provides economically challenged Iraqi families with cut price staple food items. The cuts effectively reduced the scope of the subsidies to include just four items; flour, sugar, cooking oil and rice, and limited eligibility by excluding state employees earning over $1,250 per month.
The Planning Ministry announced at the same time that the continued distribution of the ration cards was one of the most prominent obstacles to economic development in the country.
The ration card system was adopted in Iraq after the UN Security Council imposed economic sanctions on Iraq following the invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
In the 2010 federal budget, close to $2.9 billion was allocated to the ration card scheme which had cost the country more than $3.1 billion in 2009.
The system has faced increasing criticism in a number of Iraqi provinces where distribution of the items covered by the scheme is often delayed or incomplete and in some parts of the country, the scheme has stopped functioning altogether.
Protests breaking out across Iraq in recent weeks have focused on poor public services, rising unemployment and cuts to the ration card system, all contributing to an overall slump in living standards for many Iraqi citizens.
http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/2/216444/
Trade Minister to address ration card cuts in parliament
Baghdad, A deputy from the Wasat Movement said on Monday that Trade Minister Rozh Nuri Shaways has been summoned to parliament to discuss the government’s controversial food subsidizing ration card cuts, central to many of the public protests arising in Iraqi cities in recent days.
Mohammad Iqbal told AKnews that Parliament Speaker Osama Nujaifi cut short discussions about the ration card during the 30th parliamentary session today at the request of a number of deputies who called for the Trade Minister to be present during the talks, “so that the discussions would be effective and have useful results,” Nujaifi said.
Last year the Trade Ministry announced cuts to the ration card system that provides economically challenged Iraqi families with cut price staple food items. The cuts effectively reduced the scope of the subsidies to include just four items; flour, sugar, cooking oil and rice, and limited eligibility by excluding state employees earning over $1,250 per month.
The Planning Ministry announced at the same time that the continued distribution of the ration cards was one of the most prominent obstacles to economic development in the country.
The ration card system was adopted in Iraq after the UN Security Council imposed economic sanctions on Iraq following the invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
In the 2010 federal budget, close to $2.9 billion was allocated to the ration card scheme which had cost the country more than $3.1 billion in 2009.
The system has faced increasing criticism in a number of Iraqi provinces where distribution of the items covered by the scheme is often delayed or incomplete and in some parts of the country, the scheme has stopped functioning altogether.
Protests breaking out across Iraq in recent weeks have focused on poor public services, rising unemployment and cuts to the ration card system, all contributing to an overall slump in living standards for many Iraqi citizens.
http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/2/216444/
