Ministry of Planning (Iraq)

The Ministry of Planning (وزارة التخطيط العراقية) is the cabinet-level ministry of the Iraqi government responsible for promoting economic growth and human development through strategic planning. It collaborates with the private sector as well as international institutions, monitors the implementation of investment projects, develops economic and social policies, evaluates legislation and conducts censuses. Furthermore, among its missions is to lay the foundation for data-driven decision-making by promoting information technology and developing a comprehensive national database in line with the government's vision of creating an information society. It works to realise sustainable development, social justice, poverty-alleviation as well as the reduction of unemployment, enhancement of institutional capacities, and development of standardisation.

Overview
The ministry prepares developmental policies and strategic plans and programmes encompassing all aspects of economic and social development. It seeks to ensure the optimal investment of human and material resources as well as to enhance the quality of government performance and create partnerships in both the public and private sectors, in order to achieve comprehensive sustainable development.

The ministry seeks to achieve these goals by adopting the values of objectivity, participation, neutrality, transparency, integration, collaboration and sustainability.

Tasks
The strategic goals and tasks of the ministry's departments:
 * 1) Conducting research and studies and developing plans and perceptions that achieve the goal of economic and human development in Iraq in cooperation with public and private agencies.
 * 2) Preparing, implementing and following up the annual and five-year comprehensive development plans strategy.
 * 3) Provide indicators, statistical data and necessary information needed by state agencies, and establish a comprehensive national information base.
 * 4) Supervision and follow-up of the international cooperation file with regard to grants and technical assistance.
 * 5) Work to provide the requirements for the establishment of the information society in Iraq and make the most of the information revolution, spread its culture and enhance its practices in state departments and the general community, in order to reach the goal of e-government.
 * 6) Sponsoring and supporting the Iraqi private sector, studying the reality of this sector and overcoming the difficulties and obstacles it faces.
 * 7) Developing a detailed framework and proposing strategic projects that require huge capital and a longer period of time for implementation, in cooperation with the rest of the state agencies.
 * 8) Evaluation and follow-up of government contracting activity in the field of investment and development.
 * 9) Adjusting measurement, improving the quality of imported and local goods, and promoting intellectual creativity in a way that enhances the national economy.
 * 10) Studying human development needs to contribute to the provision of job opportunities and employment and social services for the population.
 * 11) Preparing and implementing a strategy to reduce poverty and unemployment.
 * 12) Preparing and proposing work plans and programs that contribute to building institutional capacities and developing the human element. It is a tool and axis for achieving development.
 * 13) Promoting the concept of partnership and good governance and adopting international and local quality standards.
 * 14) Follow-up evaluation of the performance of the implementation of investment projects and raise the efficiency of implementation.
 * 15) Developing economic and social policies.
 * 16) Evaluating legislation related to the comprehensive development process.
 * 17) Transforming the current expected population increase from a burden on the development process into a productive force that represents a positive engine and a key actor in the development process, in order to achieve higher rates of economic growth and factors of population welfare.
 * 18) Preparing a sectoral, spatial, rural, urban, and local strategy that achieves economic efficiency, exploits comparative advantages, and achieving social justice.

Organizational structure
The ministry of composed of the following departments that execute its functions:
 * Department of Economic and Financial Policy
 * Department of Human Development
 * Department of Regional and Local Development
 * Department of Sector Development
 * Department of State Investment Projects
 * Department of International Collaboration
 * Legal Department
 * Department of Public Government Contracts
 * Department of Administration and Finance
 * Department of Information Technology
 * Department for Poverty Alleviation Strategy

Establishments

 * Central Statistical Organization
 * Central Organization for Standardization and Quality Control
 * The National Center for Management Development and Information Technology
 * The Iraqi Commission for Accreditation
 * Social Fund for Development

2022-2025
In order to fulfil its vision of achieving comprehensive sustainable development, the ministry prepared a 3 year-long strategic plan in 2022, that is based on 7 central characteristics. The strategic plan is participatory, the collaboration of senior leadership, undersecretaries, heads of agencies and general managers in all stages of preparation and implementation; responsive/flexible, responding to short-term and long-term challenges and overcoming them; realistic, the plan is based on objective truths and realistic circumstances and time-frames, and the implementation of sound policies is guided by it; compatible, the strategic plan of the ministry is in line with the general strategic vision of the state; applicable/implementable, standards and benchmarks are set in place in order to monitor the progress of the plan's implementation; rateable/reviewable, a report on the progress of the plan's implementation is presented and analysed annually and the results are utilized in preparing new strategic plans; deliverable, the vision of the ministry is communicated effectively to all personnel in order to ensure correct understanding and implementation of the strategic plan, and receive feedback.

Ministers of Planning

 * Tal'at Al-Shaybani (1959-1963)
 * Abdul Karim Al-Ali (1963-1964)
 * Abdul Hassan Zalzala (1964-1966)
 * Salman Abdul Razaq Al-Aswad (1966-1967)
 * Mohammed Yaqub Al-Asadi (1967-1968)
 * Jawad Hashim (1968-1971)
 * Rasheed Al-Rifai (1971-1979)
 * Taha Ibrahim Al-Abdullah (1979-1981)
 * Thamer Razuqi Al-Shaykhali (1981-1982)
 * Samal Majeed Faraj (1982-1993)
 * Hassan Abdul Munim Khattab (1993-2003)
 * Mohammed Ali Al-Hakim (2003-2004)
 * Mehdi Al-Hafidh (2004-2005)
 * Barham Salih (2005-2006)
 * Ali Ghaleb Baban (2006-2011)
 * Nassar Al-Rubayie (2011)
 * Ali Yusuf Al-Shukri (2011-2014)
 * Fuad Hussein (2014)
 * Salman Al-Jamili (2014-2018)
 * Nouri Sabah Al-Dulaymi (2018-2020)
 * Khalid Battal Al-Najim (2020-2022)
 * Mohammed Ali Tamim (2022-present)