Fazil Nabi, Iraq’s deputy minister of finance, told Rudaw that “until now Abadi has not agreed on sending the sum to the Peshmerga,” which the Kurdistan Regional Government is entitled to receive outside of funding promises stipulated as part of the Erbil-Baghdad oil agreements.
Out of the portion of the budget dedicated to the Iraqi Infantry Forces, 38 billion IQD is expected to be given to the Peshmerga forces.
Nabi added that “If the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) does not reach an agreement with the Iraqi government on the exportation of oil, Baghdad will not be ready to send the sum to the Peshmerga.”
Nabi insisted that he will ramp up efforts to force Baghdad to send the Peshmerga’s share aside from any agreements. However, he explained, “if no deal is struck, Baghdad will undoubtedly make problems even in sending this amount.”
The Iraqi parliament in early December passed a 100.67 trillion Iraqi dinars (about $85 billion) budget bill for 2017, with Kurdistan’s two main parties on opposite ends of whether it contains any good for the autonomous region.
The two main Kurdish parties also voiced different views of the budget bill, with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) slamming it as containing nothing good for the Kurds and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) hailing its role in the making of the budget as “a valuable achievement.”
MPs in Baghdad approved the budget based on projections of an oil price of $42 per barrel. It forecast a deficit of 21.7 trillion dinars ($19 billion) and spending of 100.7 trillion dinars.
Nabi in an earlier exclusive interview with Rudaw deemed the 2017 budget a "bomb" planted for the Kurdistan Region.
