The Cabinet held its regular session on Tuesday, in Baghdad, chaired by Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi.

The Cabinet hosted the head of the Independent High Electoral Commission. The guest reviewed the ongoing preparations for holding the elections as scheduled. Based on that, the Cabinet decided the following:

1- Authorising the Independent High Electoral Commission to directly sign a contract with the Iraqi Media Network Printing Press to print the final public and private voter register, the candidates’ handbook, and the voter register poster.

2- Authorising the Independent High Electoral Commission to negotiate and contract directly with a well-respected international company to print and prepare ballot papers and other forms for the election.

The Cabinet also discussed the topics on the agenda and issued the following decisions:

• Increase the scale of the social protection aid as of the beginning of the current fiscal year and proposed by the Social Protection Authority in light of the economic challenges that the country is going through, which negatively affect the most vulnerable . The following decisions were made:

• Increase the volume of social protection assistance as of the beginning of the current fiscal year proposed by the Social Protection Authority in light of the economic challenges that the state is going through that negatively affect the most vulnerable groups in society, namely: the poor, according to the following criteria:

Male category:

A – A family of one person to receive 125,000 dinar

B – A family of two people to receive 175,000 dinar

C – A family of three people to receive 225,000 dinar

D – A family of four people to receive 275,000 dinar

Female category:

A – A family of one person to receive 125,000 dinar

B – A family of two people to receive 200,000 dinar

C – A family of three people to receive 275,000 dinar

D – A family of four people to receive 325,000 dinar

Allowing the General Directorate of Evaluation and Examinations affiliated with the Ministry of Education to print and prepare examination books from outside Iraq exclusively for the sixth grade of secondary school, on the condition that local printers excuse themselves from printing and preparing material.

• Increase the amount of energy supplied under the contract signed with Qiwan Company to be 300 + 10% megawatts, instead of the current 150 + 20% megawatts, according to the power unit tariff, including operational fuel, according to the approved price equation for importing energy from Iran (Take and Pay).

Agreeing to the following:

1- The purchase price of barley fodder from Mesopotamia Public Company for Seed Production in the Ministry of Agriculture and the Iraqi Company for Seed Production / mixed sector is 300,000 dinar per tonne.

2- The local sale price for the beneficiaries is 250,000 dinar per tonne.

3- Setting up specifications for crops according to the standards set by neighbouring countries.

4- Halting subsidies for inputs of the production of barley for irrigated areas.

5- The Ministry of Finance shall pay the subsidy amounts from the Agricultural Support Fund.

6- The barley fodder crops for the next season will be marketed in the local markets by the producers, not by the two aforementioned companies, which are included in paragraph (1).

• Approval of the amendment to Paragraph 1 of Cabinet Resolution 343 of 2019, regarding a project to construct 130 schools in the marshlands.

• Granting the Ministry of Immigration and Displaced with an exception from the terms of the contract for the purchase of relief materials and the restoration and maintenance of camps, to meet the needs of the displaced and returning families from displacement and relieve their burdens.