Trade Ministry denies plan to swap food rations for cash handouts

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Trade Ministry on Thursday denied reports that the government planned to replace food ration card supplies with a monthly cash payment of 100,000 dinars (about $66 at the official rate) per person.

The reports, circulated by some news websites and social media pages, described a Council of Ministers proposal to swap the rations for cash. “These reports are baseless and are not based on any official decision or directive,” the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said the ration program would continue, with food supplies distributed to citizens under existing plans, and urged media outlets and social media users to rely on official government sources.

It is not the first such denial. In January, the ministry rejected reports of cuts to food rations, saying each person’s share was being distributed in full. In September, Deputy Trade Minister Sattar al-Jabiri said wheat stocks would last more than 18 months and that Iraq planned eight food basket distributions this year.

The Public Distribution System, commonly known as the ration card program, was introduced in the 1990s to supply households with subsidized flour, rice, sugar and cooking oil. It remains one of the country’s largest social welfare programs.

In April, the government reinstated a monthly income threshold of 1.5 million dinars (about $990 at the official rate), above which households lose their ration share, after an update of ration card records removed about 5 million names, including dead people, duplicates and people living abroad.

The Planning Ministry said in May that poverty had fallen from 22% to 17% and unemployment from 16% to 13%, citing census and survey data.