ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq’s acting finance minister Safadin Safee said Saturday that Baghdad and Erbil should continue to look for solutions to their serious dispute over the budget, even though the current year’s national budget still has not made it through parliament.
His comments resonated with statements by other Iraqi officials, particularly from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law coalition, who since the April 30 legislative elections have extended peace feelers towards Erbil, hoping to win Kurdish support for a new Iraqi government.
Safee distanced the finance ministry from any blame over the budget row, saying that the Iraqi parliament has yet to finalize this year’s budget, and to begin work on the 2015 budget bill.
Authorities in the autonomous Kurdistan Region, which is constitutionally entitled to 17 percent of Iraq’s federal budget, say that Baghdad has blocked monthly payments since January to put pressure on Erbil. The Kurds want to export and sell their own oil and gas, which Baghdad claims is unconstitutional.
The budget freeze has placed severe financial constraints on the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) .
Kurdish leaders say Maliki’s move is a “violation of the Iraqi constitution.” They say that the Baghdad government has crossed a red line, and have since been contemplating independence from Iraq.
Meanwhile, Safee said that the passing of the budget at this time will not be easy. He said that the Iraqi government has placed most projects on hold and was able to spend on only the most essential sectors.
“The government has now issued bonds from the central bank to complement the budget,” Safee told Rudaw.
Despite the recent softening of the rhetoric from Baghdad since the elections, the Kurds now appear to have lost faith in Baghdad and are seeking to finance their own budget through oil exports.
Iraq’s Sunnis, the country’s other large minority, is involved in serious disputes with the Shiite government in Baghdad. The Sunnis complain that Maliki’s government has neglected their regions and has only sought to develop the Shiite provinces.
The Kurds were essential in bringing Maliki to power in 2010 by lending support to his coalition government.
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