#IraqProgress Minister of Labour announces income-generating small loans
Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Ahmed Al-Asadi
This article was transcribed from an Iraqi News Portal in Baghdad, Iraq: On Monday, Labor and Social Affairs Minister Ahmed al-Asadi announced the launch of a new batch of income-generating small business loans.
The"Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Ahmed Al-Asadi, during a press conference, announced the launch of a new batch of soft loans for income-generating projects, for meals 39 and 40 for over 5,700 borrowers." By the Council of Ministers' decision to allocate 25% of loans to those covered by social protection, the ministry, for the first time, offers loans to those covered by social protection.
"The Small Income-Generating Projects Fund has launched a new batch of loans, including 5,714 for meals 39 and 40," al-Asadi said.
He added, "This meal will be launched within the ministry's project (Arzaq service), which included loans for those covered by social protection," explaining that "25 percent of the loans were allocated in each of the four meals launched within the livelihood service for those covered by social protection."
Until the feasibility of their projects is confirmed, the subsidy beneficiaries' salaries will continue to benefit from loans for three months.
According to him, 2862 applicants covered by social protection benefited from the livelihood service, 1431 borrowers per meal, which indicates that "the ministry will continue to offer loans to the greatest number of beneficiaries of social protection in the coming meals, within the framework of the Council of Ministers' decision to allocate 25% of the loans totaling 400 billion to those who receive subsidies."
"We launched 320 loans for ongoing and existing projects, and those who have a continuous project can apply for the Arzaq service to obtain a loan to advance it," al-Asadi said.
"The ministry is working to complete the financing of one billion dinars allocated to the poverty alleviation strategy program," said he, adding that "cooperation is underway between the ministries of labor and planning to complete the financing of this amount and launch poverty alleviation strategy loans," adding that "the poverty alleviation strategy grants 7 million dinars in loans with a repayment period up to eight years."
"The Ministry of Labor decided yesterday to stop the My Umbrella platform for several reasons," Al-Asadi stated.
To prevent the exploitation of the umbrella platform electorally, some people appeared on social networking sites, exploiting the needs of the people and the services of the ministry for electoral purposes.
2- We decided to stop inquiring about new applicants on the platform.
A platform has been developed for beneficiaries of the subsidy to receive their salaries and to update their annual statements.
4- Text messages will be sent to the phone numbers of the new members whose names appear in the upcoming meals.
To prevent the exploitation of this platform by some weak souls who try to exploit the needs of the people through the ministry's services, this procedure will continue until 18/12, the day of the elections."
In the statement, the minister noted that "work is underway to complete the subsequent meals, and we are adding additional social protection numbers."
