ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq has spent some 57.18 trillion dinars (roughly $43.5 billion) in the first six months of 2026 while revenues stood at just 35.14 trillion dinars (about $26.7 billion), a monthly report by Baghdad's finance ministry showed, revealing a deficit of more than 21 trillion dinars (approximately $16 billion) over the period.
Of the total expenditures, the overwhelming majority went to operational costs rather than investment. Some 54.67 trillion dinars (about $41.6 billion) was directed to the operational sector - with public sector salaries making up the bulk - while just 2.5 trillion dinars (about $1.9 billion) was allocated to investment. The Iraqi oil ministry recorded the largest share of expenditures among all ministries.
Salary and entitlement expenditures dominated the budget, with wages for Iraqi and Kurdistan Region employees alone reaching 30.76 trillion dinars (about $23.4 billion), followed by social welfare and retirement payments at 13.85 trillion dinars (about $10.5 billion) and total subsidies and bonuses at 4.15 trillion dinars (about $3.2 billion).
Combined, salary expenditures totalled 48.76 trillion dinars (about $37.1 billion), accounting for 85 percent of total state expenditures.
Total public revenues for the period reached 35.94 trillion dinars (about $27.3 billion), comprising 28.5 trillion dinars (about $21.7 billion) in oil revenues and 7.4 trillion dinars (about $5.6 billion) in non-oil revenues, with non-oil's share rising to 20 percent against oil's 80 percent.
By comparison, total revenues in the first half of 2025 stood at 62 trillion dinars (about $47.1 billion), of which 57 trillion dinars (about $43.3 billion) came from oil and 4.9 trillion dinars (about $3.7 billion) from non-oil sources, underscoring a sharp year-on-year decline driven by falling oil revenues.
Meanwhile, the Kurdistan Region's total expenditures in the first half of 2026 were entirely operational, reaching 6.28 trillion dinars (about $4.8 billion), up from 5.16 trillion dinars (about $3.9 billion) recorded in the same period last year.
On the revenue side, the Region's non-oil contributions to federal revenues rose from 319 billion dinars (about $243 million) in the first half of 2025 to 383 billion dinars (about $291 million) in the first half of 2026.
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