One in five Iraqis were suffering from chronic poverty just before the fall of former president Saddam Hussein, raising concerns about their ability to cope in the post-war era, the World Food Program said on Thursday.
Twelve years of UN sanctions, three wars in two decades and a paralyzed economy left some 4.6 million people desperately poor despite the monthly food rations offered to all Iraqis under the UN oil-for-food program, according to a survey quietly conducted by the UN agency in late February, a month before the start of the US-led invasion.
"This is a major cause for concern because all these people were found to be chronically poor even while their basic food needs were met every month, free of charge," said Torben Due, the World Food Program representative in Iraq.
"Two months of instability and war have most likely made their ability to cope with an already deteriorating economic situation much worse," Due said.
The UN estimated before the war that the monthly UN rations were the sole source of nutrition for 60 percent of the estimated 22 million Iraqis living in southern and central Iraq, the area covered by the oil-for-food program.
With support from the World Food Program, the Iraqi Ministry of Trade this month relaunched the food rationing, with as many as 27 million Iraqis now eligible to collect their monthly allotment at a cost of 250 Iraqi Dinars (about 20 US cents). Until Iraq has a new government, it is under the administration of the US and Britain, the occupying powers.
The agency estimated the market value of the monthly ration at 10,000 Dinars (about US$7.70). It defined chronic poverty as a frequent inability to meet basic needs including adequate food, water, clothing, shelter, health care and education.
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