Baghdad: Nearly one in five members of the Iraqi workforce are government employees, Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi said Thursday, as he attempts to reform the country’s bloated and often-corrupt civil service.
“We have a state with more than four million employees,” Abadi said in televised remarks from a conference on implementing economic reforms in Iraq.
“Neighbouring countries, whose populations are maybe two-and-a-half times that of Iraq, have maybe half the number of our (government) employees,” he said.
Abadi, who has announced a series of reforms aimed at curbing corruption and streamlining the government, said that the current aim is to improve efficiency rather than reduce the number of government employees.
Planning ministry spokesman Abdulzahra Al-Hindawi said that Iraq’s workforce is estimated at some 21 million people, out of a total population of around 36 million.
That means nearly 20 percent of the workforce, and one in every nine Iraqis overall, are employed by the state — a significant burden for a country struggling with low oil prices and a costly war against jihadists.
Parliament signed off on the reform plan proposed by Abadi as well as additional measures, and the prime minister has begun issuing orders for changes, including cutting 11 cabinet posts and slashing the large number of guards for officials.
But even with popular support and backing from top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, the fact that parties across Iraq’s political spectrum benefit from graft is a major obstacle to the nascent reform effort. SOURCE
“We have a state with more than four million employees,” Abadi said in televised remarks from a conference on implementing economic reforms in Iraq.
“Neighbouring countries, whose populations are maybe two-and-a-half times that of Iraq, have maybe half the number of our (government) employees,” he said.
Abadi, who has announced a series of reforms aimed at curbing corruption and streamlining the government, said that the current aim is to improve efficiency rather than reduce the number of government employees.
Planning ministry spokesman Abdulzahra Al-Hindawi said that Iraq’s workforce is estimated at some 21 million people, out of a total population of around 36 million.
That means nearly 20 percent of the workforce, and one in every nine Iraqis overall, are employed by the state — a significant burden for a country struggling with low oil prices and a costly war against jihadists.
Parliament signed off on the reform plan proposed by Abadi as well as additional measures, and the prime minister has begun issuing orders for changes, including cutting 11 cabinet posts and slashing the large number of guards for officials.
But even with popular support and backing from top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, the fact that parties across Iraq’s political spectrum benefit from graft is a major obstacle to the nascent reform effort. SOURCE