Masrour Barzani will speak to the parliament about “the implementation of the reform agenda of the 9th cabinet, the course of talks with the Iraqi government, and analyzing the current health and financial situations of the Kurdistan Region and implications of the spread of the coronavirus," read a statement from his media office.
Under parliament bylaws, the prime minister can call a session that should be scheduled within 14 days.
The Kurdistan Region, much like federal Iraq, is blighted by deeply ingrained corruption and inefficiency. Upon taking office, Barzani pledged to clean up the system. His cousin, Nechirvan Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Region, formally signed the much-delayed contentious reform bill into law in early February. It addresses abuses of the civil service payroll, pensions, and other perks, but has not yet been fully implemented.
The government is also deep into talks with Baghdad, hoping to cement a once-and-for-all agreement over the budget and oil. They reached a temporary deal in mid-August that should see the federal government sending 320 billion dinars ($268 million) per month for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to pay its civil servants in August, September, and October. As September draws to a close, however, Baghdad has not yet sent the funds.
Kurdish officials have openly said they cannot pay civil servants without money from the federal government. The KRG has not paid public sector employees on time and in full since Baghdad stopped sending funds in April. Erbil says it is entitled to a 12.67% share of federal funds, as stipulated by Iraq’s 2019 budget law, while Baghdad says the KRG has not lived up to its end of the deal that includes turning over 250,000 barrels of oil daily to Iraq’s state-owned oil company.
Public sector employees have staged frequent strikes and demonstrations in protest over not getting paid.
Both the regional and federal economies are heavily dependent on oil and were dealt a major blow when oil prices collapsed in April because of the coronavirus pandemic. Officials from both governments made admissions acknowledging state economic mismanagement. Barzani said in June that his government is $27 billion in debt.
Barzani's request to speak to parliament comes after a group of lawmakers planned to ask the speaker to officially summon the prime minister to the legislature to face questions about delays in paying salaries and how the reform law will be implemented.
