Iraq effort to reform ends in controversy
13 November, 2012
BAGHDAD: Armed with a key reform touted by economists but angrily opposed by many voters, Iraq's government is mired in controversy over its now-withdrawn plans to cancel the country's biggest social programme. Ministers had decided last week to scrap the ration card programme, a food distribution system inaugurated by Saddam Hussein after Iraq was slapped with an embargo, a decision lauded by analysts who have long described it as inefficient and riven with corruption. Faced with vociferous opposition from clerics, MPs and many of the country's citizens, however, the government backed down. and now says it will now allow Iraqis to choose -- they can opt either for a monthly cash payment of 25,000 dinars, about $20, or the regular allocation of a handful of food items. "This is ridiculous," said Kamal al-Basri, an economist with the Baghdad-based Iraqi Institute for Economic Reform (IIER). "This is a measure we have been waiting for since 2004." "This is a very important economic reform and it should take place." Basri complained of corruption and leakages in the ration card programme noting that the long process of getting food from government warehouses into the hands of citizens was "not straightforward." "At every step, there are some leaks." He added that it also "prevents the development of a private sector." End.
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