The depreciation of the Iraqi Dinar against the American dollar has left low-income Iraqi families vulnerable to high prices.
Iraqi MPs have prepared a bill to increase the state-supplied monthly food rations to ease the burden on low-income families as the Iraqi Dinar continues to lose value against the dollar.
The Iraqi economy is vulnerable to fluctuations in the value of the US currency as over 90 percent of the country’s goods are imported from aboard paid for by the US dollar. The bill aims to reduce the damage caused by the depreciation of the Dinar on low-income families.
According to some reports, the depreciation of the Dinar against the dollar has directly affected the lives of low-income families. The bill calls for easing the burdens on the lives of the burdened by increasing and improving nutrients and by committing to distributing 12 baskets of food a year. Most families in Iraqi benefit from the state-supplied food rations that include necessary food indigents such as rice, beans, sugar, and cooking oil.
The bill also asks the government to disclose the amount of money spent on supplying and distributing food rations.
Currently, one US dollar is around 1500 Iraqi dinars, an almost 15 percent increase from the past two years; in late December 2022, one USD equaled almost 1600 Iraqi dinars, bringing more instability and unpredictability to the Iraqi economy.