Labor Minister plans boost in special needs grants and social welfare for KRI
Shafaq News/ On Tuesday, Minister of
Labor and Social Affairs Kwestan Mohammed announced that a ministry delegation
will visit Baghdad in early August to discuss increasing financial grants for
people with special needs and redistributing social welfare salaries for
eligible families in the Kurdistan Region (KRI).
During a press conference, Mohammed
stated, "Social welfare salaries, which have been cut since 2015, should
be reinstated and distributed like they are to the two million families in
other regions of Iraq," emphasizing that "families living in poverty
should also receive benefits from the national budget."
Notably, the plan to increase
financial grants for people with special needs and redistribute social welfare
salaries in the KRI faces several challenges, including budget constraints,
administrative hurdles, and political resistance. Ensuring equitable
distribution and accurately assessing eligibility also complicates the process.
In addition, with the oil revenues
halted and a ruling by a Paris-based arbitration to suspend oil export through
the Ceyhan pipeline, Kurdistan's primary income now comes from taxes collected
at border crossings with neighboring countries, including Iran and Turkiye, two
of Iraq's key regional trading partners.