BAGHDAD, April, 19 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Ministry of Planning said the poverty rate in the country has grown to about 27 percent a few months after the central bank devalued the Iraqi dinar against the U.S. dollar, the official al-Sabah newspaper reported Monday.
"The devaluation of the Iraqi dinar pushed up the poverty rate to about 27 percent, but the ministry had completed a reform and recovery plan to respond to the economic and health crises," spokesman of the ministry Abdul-Zahara al-Hindawi told al-Sabah.
The three-year plan (2021-2023) includes three tracks: improving the private sector to boost the national economy, supporting public services, and addressing development gaps between provinces, according to al-Sabah.
On March 16, the ministry said the poverty rate in Iraq reached 24.8 percent in the second half of 2020, down from 31.7 percent in the first half of the year under the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
The overall security situation has been relatively improved in Iraq since the defeat of the Islamic State group late in 2017, but significant challenges remain, including political and security maladies, economic instability, social unrest caused by high unemployment, eroded public services, and persistent low standards of living. Enditem
