Expert exposes striking pay gap between Iraq's Sunni and Shia endowments

Shafaq News/ Iraqi economist Nabil Al-Marsoumi has revealed a notable disparity in the salaries of employees between the Sunni and Shia endowments in Iraq.

Al-Marsoumi pointed out that “the salaries of employees at the Sunni Endowment are more than three times higher than those at the Shia Endowment, despite the Shia Endowment's budget for 2024 being more than three times that of the Sunni Endowment.”

He detailed that “the salaries for Sunni Endowment employees amount to 285 billion IQD (approximately $197M), while those for Shia Endowment employees total 87 billion IQD (approximately $66M). Furthermore, the budget for the Sunni Endowment is estimated at 567 billion IQD (approximately $433M), compared to the Shia Endowment's budget of 1.972 trillion IQD (approximately $1.5B).”

Noting that the Sunni Endowment employs 32,641 staff members, in contrast to 9,414 employees at the Shia Endowment, Al-Marsoumi emphasized that this significant disparity in salaries and budgets warrants careful review to understand its causes and potential impact on the financial and administrative balance of the endowments.