Iraqi Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Adel Al-Rikabi revealed that poverty rates in the country witnessed a significant increase due to the outbreak of the Coruna virus and the drop in oil prices in the global market, warning of economic and health crises in Iraq as a result.
Al-Rikabi said in press statements published today that the poverty rate increased from 22% to 34%, stressing that Iraq seeks to overcome the crisis by cooperating with various international bodies to find quick solutions to increase poverty and unemployment rates.
He pointed out that the World Bank and the International Labor Organization are among the international bodies with which coordination is underway to implement programs in Iraq to overcome the current crisis, such as financing loans, training and rehabilitation, and the completion of the emergency project for the regions that Iraqi forces have recovered from ISIS.
The Iraqi minister also referred to the measures sponsored by the ministry by distributing grants to citizens of low-income people who were affected by the preventive curfew due to the Corona virus.
According to statistics of the Iraqi Ministry of Planning, the population reached about 40 million people in all cities of the country, including the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
The Iraqi authorities impose curfews from time to time due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus and the increase in the number of infections to more than 51 thousand and 524 cases, while the death toll exceeded the barrier of 2050 deaths.