On Monday, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani issued a directive to localize private sector workers’ salaries in the same way that state employees do, while also announcing that cash payments from government institutions will cease in July of next year.
“In implementation of the financial and economic reform approach, which represents one of the government’s most important priorities, the Prime Minister directed a number of steps to be taken to enhance and develop electronic payment systems and services,” the media office of Al-Sudani said in a statement that dinaropinions.com received.
He explained that the directive mandated the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and the Central Bank of Iraq, along with a number of private sector institutions, to prepare an appropriate mechanism for localizing the salaries of private sector employees in a manner comparable to that of the government.
Al-Sudani also emphasized that ministries and all government institutions should use electronic payments instead of cash for collection and other related transactions. This should be accomplished through an integrated plan that must be submitted by each ministry or government institution by December 31, with actual implementation starting by July 1, 2025.
