Abadi to send KRG salaries mid-March, Kurdish budget funds increased by $844 million

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A Kurdish MP in Baghdad says Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi will release the salaries of education and health ministries in the Kurdistan Region before March 15 per his “pledge” and Iraq’s ‘emergency fund’ will allocate 1 trillion Iraqi dinars (about $844 million) to the Kurdistan Region.

Iraq’s parliament voted on Monday to increase to Kurdistan’s effective budget share from 6.6 to 7.6 Iraqi trillion dinars, or from 12.67 to 14 percent through increasing the country’s emergency fund from 2 to 3 trillion dinars.

The emergency funds are “rainy day” funds for the government to distribute as needed through the fiscal year. The prime minister and the finance ministry have control over them which should not exceed 3 trillion dinars, according to the budget law.

Masoud Haider, a Kurdish member of the finance committee of the Iraqi parliament, told Rudaw that the original 1 trillion dinar pledge had been made in a meeting between the prime minister, president, and parliament on Thursday.

On Saturday, Kurdish politicians boycotted the session where a 12.67-percent share was approved, while omitting the promised 1 trillion dinar in emergency funds for 2018.

“In the meeting with the three presidencies, we engaged in a big discussion with the prime minister where I attended as a Kurdish member of the finance committee,” Haider said.

The meeting was on Thursday.

“After talking about the situation of the education and health sectors in the Kurdistan Region and the possibility of missing a year of studies by students, the prime minister emphasized he would send the salaries of these two ministries,” said Haider.

Haider added that Abadi had “even mentioned that he had [control of the] three months’ salaries for these two ministries, and he could distribute them as he also [is the de facto acting] finance minister.”

The post of the finance minister has not been filled since confidence in KDP politician Hoshyar Zebari was withdrawn in 2016.

Amin Bakir, another Kurdish MP in Baghdad, confirmed to Rudaw that Abadi has pledged to send the salaries of the two ministries in question.

He added receiving the salaries is only contingent upon the mechanism to deliver them.

Bakir, who also heads of the Change Movement (Gorran) faction in the parliament, said that Baghdad prefers to send the salaries directly to the provinces, something the KRG does not accept as it intends to weaken the Kurdistan Region and its government.

“The best option for both governments is for Baghdad to send the salaries directly to the ministries of the Kurdistan Regional Government,” Bakir said.

Iraq’s budget for 2018 is about 104 trillion dinars [about $88 billion]. The Iraqi budget operates with a deficit of 12.5 trillion dinars [$10.58 billion]. The budget is based on a projected oil price of $46 per barrel and a daily export capacity of 3.8 million barrels.

The bulk of Kurdish demands were not met despite mounting pressure on the parliament and Abadi to increase the KRG share to its original 17 percent.

Kurdish finance committee members in the Iraqi parliament are going to meet with officials from the KRG and Kurdish parliament on Tuesday to discuss the budget.