Labor Ministry says document cutting social protection groups is forged

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Labor and Social Affairs Ministry said Wednesday that a document circulating on social media announcing the removal of groups from the social protection program is forged, and that no beneficiaries have been cut.

“The circulated document is forged and has no connection to the truth,” the ministry said. It has issued no decision to cancel assistance for any group and made no changes to the Social Protection Law or its eligibility categories, it said, and no order exists to suspend or end payments. “Social protection allowances remain in place and their payment is secured for eligible recipients under the approved legal regulations.”

The document, dated Aug. 4 and presented as an order from the Social Protection Authority, claimed assistance would be cancelled for all recipients except widows, divorced women, people with disabilities and unmarried people over 50.

The ministry released the August payment on Sunday to 2,046,000 families across federal Iraq, excluding the Kurdistan Region, totalling more than 438 billion dinars (about $332 million at the official rate) — an average of roughly 214,000 dinars a household. Recipients included 1,482,000 male-headed households and 564,000 female-headed.

The program provides targeted cash assistance to families assessed as below the poverty line, with eligibility determined through household data and field assessments. The ministry said its own platforms and those of the Social Protection Authority are the only authorized sources of information about the program, and urged people not to circulate unverified documents.

Iraq’s public finances are under strain. The government confirmed last week that it is in a financial crisis and that public salaries would be delayed, and university staff protested in Basra and Kirkuk on Wednesday over July pay that has still not arrived.