Kurdistan
Meeting between KRG and governors of Sulaimani and Halabja in Erbil on May 17, 2022. Photo: handout/KRG
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and his deputy Qubad Talabani discussed the salary distribution issue in Sulaimani and Halabja provinces with their governors on Tuesday. The government decided to allocate an amount of money from local income to fill the shortfall, an official told Rudaw.
Samir Hawrami, Talabani’s spokesperson, told Rudaw’s Shaho Amin late Tuesday that Sulaimani and Halabja provinces had been suffering from lack of cash in the banks, causing a delay in the distribution of salaries.
He added that Barzani and Talabani discussed the matter with the governors of both provinces as well as the heads of Raparin and Garmiyan independent administrations which are affiliated to Sulaimani province.
Both provinces had to hand over 82.5 billion dinars ($56 million) from their local income to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) this month for the payment of April salaries of civil servants. However, the Tuesday meeting decided to fully rely on the income from oil sales and the allowance it receives from Baghdad to pay the salaries, rather than the local income.
“Sulaimani was supposed to add 82.5 billion dinars to the ministry of finance for the payment of salary. However, this money will be sent to the Region’s central bank in Sulaimani. This will increase cash in the banks and have an impact for the coming months,” Hawrami said.
The local income of Erbil and Duhok provinces will not be dedicated to these salaries.
The footage of long queues of pensioners attempting to receive their salaries in front of banks in Sulaimani and Halabja have gone viral in recent months, especially after the death of a number of pensioners while trying to receive their salaries.
Hawrami said that this issue has not been totally resolved due to the lack of banks able to distribute their salaries. However, he said that other civil servants in both provinces will be paid on the same day as their counterparts in Erbil and Duhok provinces this month.
The KRG said in a statement on Tuesday that the aim of its meeting was “to find a suitable mechanism to resolve the financial crisis that has been lately seen in Sulaimani and Halabja province as well as Garmiyan and Raparin independent administrations in relation to the shortfall of money for salary payment,” said the KRG in a statement.
The government noted that it treats all parts of the Region equally and takes the resolution of the salary payment crisis as a “priority.” The KRG has failed to pay its civil servants on time and in full for years, but the situation has improved in 2022 after the sudden surge in oil price.
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