Baghdad, Oct. 30 (AKnews) – The average annual income of Iraqi workers rose to $4,500 USD (5.3 million IQD), according to Madhar Mohammed Saleh, deputy of the director of the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI).
Allegedly, the average income of employees was even higher, reaching $6,000 USD (7 million IQD).
However, Saleh did not explain, what the difference between an employee and other Iraqis was.
Saleh further claimed that the income rose by 25 percent compared to last year. In 2010, the average income was $4,000 USD (4.7 million IQD).
Now CBI plans to raise the average income another $500 USD (586,500 IQD) to 5,000 USD (5.9 million IQD) in 2012.
It is unclear how the CBI want to achieve that goal, since the average income is being derived from the wages that Iraqi employees receive from private or governmental employers and not from the CBI.
In addition to that, international figures contradict Saleh’s announcement. According to Unicef, the annual gross national income (GNI) per capita is $2,000 USD (2.4 million IQD).
This figure is likely more accurate for one reason. According to international conventions, the poverty level is considered to be at 50 percent of the average annual income. With an estimated average income of $2,000 USD, the poverty level would be at $1,000 USD (1.2 million IQD).
In 2008, the Iraqi Central Organization for Statistics and Information Technology set the poverty level at 77,000 IQD ($65 USD) per month, summing up to an annual income of 924,000 IQD ($779 USD). Thus, both figures get relatively close.
However, there are far away from the figures announced by CBI. According to CBI, the poverty level would have to be at $2,250 USD (2.6 million IQD), 125 to 188 percent higher than figure of Unicef or the the Central Organization for Statistics.
