In 2010 the Ministry of Trade initiated a plan to cancel ration cards for people earning more than IQD1.5 million (US$1,000) a month. But this didn’t make much impact on the overall scheme because only about 60,000 people out of the 31 million in the system were covered by that step - most of those were high ranking civil servants.
Even when ration cards were cancelled for the second tier of income earners – between 270,000 and 300,000 more people – the amendment didn’t make much of a dent in the system.
Later in 2010, another plan was instituted – the items available through the ration card would be reduced to just five basics: flour, rice, sugar, cooking oil and baby milk.
However according to a 2011 survey by the Iraqi Knowledge Network, a statistics and research offshoot of the federal Ministry of Planning, over three quarters (80 percent) of Iraqi families who had ration cards had only ever received one of the items on the ration card list between 2010 and 2011. Only 65 percent had only ever managed to lay hands on two of the items on the list in the same period and exactly a quarter had managed to get three of the items. Astoundingly less than 5 percent of the eligible families had ever had all five items. All of which clearly reflects the kinds of problems that plague the system. That also indicates that just reducing the goods the card entitles holders to, can’t make much difference either.
Received through ration card system
Flour: 71%
Rice: 64%
Cooking oil: 30%
Baby milk: 5% of eligible families
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