Shafaq News / Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Ali Abdel Amir Allawi pledged today, Wednesday, to protect the salaries and pensions of retirees and limited-income workers.

Allawi said in a statement received by Shafaq News agency that, "The salaries of retirees and limited-income workers are a "red line". Their salaries cannot be compromised".

"As for the large segment of poor and low-income people who work outside the public sector, the current government is working to create a good environment that encourages self-employment, investment and the private sector of traders", Allawi added, "these will be the real safety net for poor citizens. It is possible to raise their economic status".

Al-Kadhimi’s government is suffering from a financial and economic crisis, as a result to the unprecedented drop in oil prices, as well as the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Iraqi parliament approved, on Wednesday, the law draft that allows the government to resort to internal and external borrowing to cover the country's fiscal deficit.