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Minister: Over 1m Iraq families applied for government aid

Thousands of public servants hold banners and shout slogans during a demonstration to protest non-payment of salaries and corruption at public enterprises, in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq on 18 December 2017 [Feriq Fereç/Anadolu Agency]

More than one million Iraqi families have applied for government aid, the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Mohammed Shaya Al-Sudani, said in a statement.

According to the statement, the state “sponsors more than four million poor persons and provides them with aid for minimum decent living.”

“Addressing poverty requires a vigorous national effort, as well as developing serious plans to fight corruption and establish a successful administration in order to end the poverty issue in Iraq,” the minister said, stressing that the country has enough wealth to live well.

He called for an increase in the ministry’s financial allocations in order for it to improve social benefits and help new applicants.

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He pointed out that the ministry has included more than 328,000 new families to its aid lists and has more than 700,000 families are waiting for financial help.

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