Page "Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr" Paragraph 21

On taking power, the Arab Socialist Ba ' ath Party had promised wealth distribution and a more equal society ; the regime's effort to implement this was hampered by the government's lack of revenue.

The government was able to fullfil this promise with the increase in oil revenues in the 1970s.

Immediately after taking power, Al-Bakr introduced subsidies on basic commodities, and introduced tax relief and a limited social welfare programme.

These programmes were not properly developed until the mid-1970s, when increasing oil revenue allowed the government to invest more in such areas.

According to Con Coughlin, the author of Saddam: His Rise and Fall, one of the Ba ' ath Party's main goal was the elimination of both the Iraqi upper and middle class.

The standard of living increased due to the nationalisation of the IPC.

The country's electricity grid was expanded, and for the first time in Iraq's history, it reached the countryside.