1. This article defines the security sector as comprising the Iraqi National Intelligence Service (INIS), the Counter Terrorism Forces (CTS), the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMU), the Ministry of the Interior (MoI), and the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The health and education sectors are defined as consisting of three ministries: the Ministry of (MoH), the Ministry of Education (MoE), and the Ministry of Higher Education & Academic Research (MoHEAR). This review excludes both the allocations to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) and oil investment spending, which mostly consist of payments to international oil companies.
2. The three-year budget for 2023-5, re-allocated provincially administered healthcare and education employees to the ministries of Education (MoE) and Health (MoH). This reversed the decentralisation steps taken a few years ago. It was made possible by the latest amendment to Law 21, which codified the administrative and legal framework for decentralisation. See Ali Al-Mawlawi, Twitter, April 19, 2023, https://twitter.com/aalmawlawi/status/1648709681215422464?s=20