A budget that tampers with the ration card will not pass, MP says

Shafaq News/ Badr parliamentary bloc will boycott the Parliamentary vote on the budget bill if it stipulates stripping certain sections of the Iraqi society of the ration card benefits or undermines the ration card allocations.

MP of Badr, Wafaa Al-Shammari, said in a press statement at the Parliament, "everyone knows that the food security is the cornerstone of the strategic and economic security of any country. Therefore, supporting this security is the most valuable asset for the resilience and progress of any society. It is the card that the developed countries throw to weaken their rivals. In Iraq, providing support to the mainstay of food security is the responsibility of the Ministry of Commerce by maintaining the ration card and its items. This matter needs financial allocations and legal acts."

"Upon reviewing the items of the card, it turned out to be catastrophic. Article 46 of the budget stipulates cutting down the card from many sections of the Iraqi families that earn a million dinars or more. It seems that the cause of the crisis was the citizen's sustenance and not waste and corruption."

"The executive authority and the Parliament forget the devaluation of the dinar hampered the purchasing Power of the local currency, which deterred the citizen's sustenance. So, today, it deprives some sections of the ration card."

"We will not vote on any provision that includes withholding the ration card or tampering with its allocations and [ultimately] the food security of the Iraqi citizen."