9:53 pm
Heads of government fail to agree on budget
Iraq’s three heads of government failed to reach an agreement on the budget, Abdulla Aliyawai, advisor to Iraqi President Fuad Masum, told Rudaw.
After a meeting on Thursday evening, the three presidencies (president, prime minister, and parliament speaker) recommended the parliament’s finance committee resolve the budget issue, Aliyawai said, adding that the finance committee will meet on the matter on Friday.
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7:05 p.m.
Iraqi PM, President, Parliament Speaker meet
The three heads of government are in a closed-door meeting on Thursday evening.
Rudaw has learned that Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, President Fuad Masum, and Speaker of Parliament Salim al-Jabouri will discuss the budget bill and other issues.
Abdulla Aliyawai, advisor to Fuad Masum, the Iraqi president, told Rudaw that “the closed meeting will occur where discussions about the budget bill and other matters will be held.”
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3:56 p.m.
Iraqi parliament votes on first two parts of budget bill
BAGHDAD, Iraq — The parliament in Baghdad voted on the Iraqi budget bill for 2018 during a session boycotted on Thursday by Kurdish MPs, who say "most of their demands were not met" including the budget for the Kurdish Peshmerga.
There were two main changes made to the bill, Rudaw's correspondent for the Iraqi parliament, Halkawt Aziz, reported.
First, the Kurdistan Region is referred to as the "Kurdistan Region" not "provinces of Kurdistan"
Second, a budget has been allocated for Peshmerga salaries, but not for their operational needs.
Aram Sheikh Mohammed, a Kurdish MP who is also deputy speaker, told reporters at a press conference attended by all Kurdish factions that the three presidencies of Iraq were supposed to meet later in the day to find a negotiated way to resolve the budget disagreement.
The session held today by the Iraqi parliament "aborted" all such attempts, Mohammed said, adding that the meeting between the presidencies of the Iraqi parliament, Council of Ministers and the Iraqi presidency may no longer be needed.
The Kurdish factions, in their joint statement, called on the international community, and the Kurdish parties to take all measures "to correct the injustice" against the Kurdistan Region.
They said that "most of their demands were not met" including the budget for the Kurdish Peshmerga.
"We reject the bill [as it is],"the statement added.
Masoud Haider, an MP from Gorran, told Rudaw that Kurdish MPs were going to boycott the session because the budget bill has not met Kurdish demands.
Haider claimed that the Shiite and Sunni MPs have "plotted" against the Kurdistan Region to pass the bill in spite of Kurdish objections.
Salim al-Jabouri, the speaker of the Iraqi parliament, said earlier this week that Iraqi MPs had reached a formula "acceptable" to everyone. Kurdish MPs did not attend that meeting with Jabouri in Baghdad.
The Kurdistan Region demands the Iraqi government to allocate 17 percent of the Iraqi budget, as has been the case since the new government formed after the US-led invasion.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has insisted that the KRG's share should be less, in proportion to the Kurdish population, estimated by Baghdad to be 12.6 percent.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in December that the proposed amount is not enough to cover the needs of the Kurdistan Region in 2018.
The Iraqi government cut the KRG’s share of the budget in early 2014 because of Kurdistan’s plans to export oil to the international markets — independent of Baghdad.
The budget cut has caused an ongoing financial crisis, further worsened after the Kurdistan Region lost control of the Kirkuk oil fields to Iraqi forces in October.
CORRECTION: Funds were allocated for salaries of Peshmerga, but not for their operational needs.
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