This is not happening in the same way in Iraqi Kurdistan. However here, the need to create public sector jobs has become a real headache as well as drain on public finances. Uncertainty in the private sector and the good terms offered by government jobs is making it difficult for private businesses to recruit new staff.

Resentment of those that ordinary Iraqis see as “high ranking public officials”, or their relatives, runs deep in Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan. They see these individuals as getting an unfairly large slice of the pie. However a universal pensions scheme, if implemented properly, could even out some of those perceptions of injustice – if not the actual unfair situation itself.

With a pension scheme, the government would be sending the right message to the general public, giving them a sense of a more just society and social welfare system and also the feeling that the national wealth is being shared.

It’s true that it would take a fearless politician or party to make this move as it would involve short term financial pain. And it is important to note that if a pension scheme is introduced within the system that currently exists, the dependence of the Iraqi people on their state for survival would be even greater. But if a pension scheme is introduced, and in the best possible way, then it might well lead to a more sustainable economic model for the future of Iraq.