Sana al-Khafaji, an employee in Iraq’s Ministry of Construction and Housing, was surprised by the $100 deduction from her monthly salary paid by the Iraqi government, following news about an expected government austerity plan to be adopted by Haider al-Abadi’s government to reduce the waste of public funds and compensate for the substantial expenditures of the previous government.
The state of austerity that Iraq is about to face is also caused by a drop in crude oil prices and the multifront war against the Islamic State (IS) in several provinces north and west of Baghdad.