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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said Saturday that Baghdad transferred an average of just 2.04 percent of the national budget to the Region over the past 12 years, covering only 46 of 144 monthly public-sector salary payments, as debate looms over the 2027 federal budget.
"Over the past 12 years, the federal government has sent approximately 41 trillion dinars [$27.1 billion] to the Kurdistan Region, which equates to 46 out of a total of 144 monthly salaries," the KRG Ministry of Finance and Economy said in a statement, adding that between 2014 and 2025, "the federal government has sent an average of 2.04 percent of the general Iraqi budget to the Kurdistan Region."
Financial disputes between the KRG and the federal government date back to 2014, when disagreements regarding independent oil exports through Turkey triggered a protracted budgetary and economic crisis.
The recurring disputes over revenue-sharing have repeatedly caused delayed, partial, or halted salary disbursements for civil servants and beneficiaries across the Kurdistan Region.
According to data released by the Region’s finance ministry on Saturday, the actual transfers between 2014 and 2025 totaled 41.042 trillion dinars ($27.1 billion) following deductions for sovereign expenditures, outstanding loans, and other obligations, far below the expected 212.7 trillion dinars ($140.2 billion).
The regional ministry emphasized that the actual transfers fell significantly short of the legal allocations previously set at 17 percent and 12.67 percent in prior federal budget frameworks.
In addition to the reduced totals, the federal government treated transfers during 2014, 2020, and 2022 as repayable loans due to the absence of approved federal budget laws, planning to deduct those sums from future budget distributions.
The KRG noted that these allocations run contrary to official findings published by the federal Ministry of Planning in 2024, which determined that the Kurdistan Region's population accounts for 14.14 percent of Iraq's total demographic makeup.
The dispute resurfaces as discussions intensify over drafting the upcoming 2027 federal budget bill, where the KRG has demanded a 14.14 percent share matching the nationwide census data.
On Wednesday, the KRG Council of Ministers formally expressed "observations and concerns" regarding ongoing negotiations with federal ministries, insisting that the 2024 Iraqi population census ratio "must serve as the primary legal baseline" for any upcoming budget legislation.
The broader negotiations between Erbil and Baghdad also involve non-oil revenues and customs administration systems, alongside obligations concerning regional crude oil production and delivery.
The KRG leadership has maintained that public sector salaries and entitlements should be permanently isolated from overarching political and revenue disagreements between both governments.
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Correction: An earlier version of this article mistakenly reported that Baghdad transferred an average of 4.2 percent of the national budget to the Kurdistan Region over the past 12 years. The correct figure is 2.04 percent. The article has been amended.
