ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has received the first instalment of some $280 million from the Iraqi government as part of a deal recently agreed between the two.
“We have already received around $280 million and expect another $200 million within days,” said Fazil Nabi, a Kurd and top advisor to the Iraqi finance ministry.
Earlier, Kurdish President Massoud Barzani had announced a “goodwill agreement” between the autonomous and central governments, whereby Erbil would receive $1 billion to pay the salaries of Kurdish civil servants, following months of delay.
Baghdad has withheld KRG’s share of the Iraqi national budget since February over Kurdish oil deals.
Baghdad says the sales are unconstitutional and the KRG categorically rejects that claim, maintaining they are lawful. According to the Iraqi charter, the KRG should receive 17 per cent of the Iraqi national income, including oil revenues, equivalent to $14 billion per year.
“We have started to sell 150,000 barrels of oil through the Iraqi government’s SOMO Company,” Safeen Dizayee, the spokesperson of the KRG, said in a statement.
He added that, according to the arrangement, the revenues from the sales are to be directly transferred to the Iraqi central bank in Baghdad. Dizayee also said that the KRG exports another 210,000 barrels per day (bpd) to the Turkish Ceyhan Port, which is to cover KRG’s hefty expenses, including civil servants’ wages and pensions.
“This is not a new thing. We suggested to give Baghdad 100,000 bpd in April, but back then the Iraqi government was not interested,” Dizayee said.
He added that KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani is to visit Baghdad for talks “very soon.”
Last week, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmed Davutoglu visited Iraq and the Kurdistan Region in an effort to mend relations with Baghdad’s Shiite government.
“Ankara has been instrumental in solving the remaining issues between us and the Iraqi government,” Dizayee said.
“We need Baghdad and Baghdad needs us and we both need Ankara.”
