PUK presents three suggestions to curb Sulaimani’s financial crisis: official

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) has presented three suggestions to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in order to curb the financial crisis in Sulaimani and end constant delays in salary payment, a senior PUK official said on Friday. 
 
Kurdistan Region has been suffering from a financial crisis for nearly a decade due to the Islamic State (ISIS) attack in 2014, the suspension of its budget from Baghdad, dramatic drop of oil prices and the spread of coronavirus. Civil servants were not paid in full and on time.

However, the situation improved in recent months after Baghdad resumed sending part of the Region’s budget, coronavirus cases dropped significantly globally and oil prices surged. This helped the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) pay the salaries of its civil servants in full and slightly on time. 

Civil servants in Sulaimani have been paid much later than the rest of the Region due to lack of money in banks. This has led to outrage and the public outcry of the people of the province.

Izzat Sabir, member of the PUK leadership council, told Rudaw on Friday that they have presented three suggestions to the KDP for combating the current crisis, mainly revolving around the income of the Kurdistan Region’s oil and its distribution.

“The income of oil, especially in the last three months as there has been a surge in oil prices, could be used to pay the salaries, and one of our suggestions is to pay the salaries entirely based on the oil income,” said Sabir.

Another suggestion that the party presented, according to Sabir, was for 43 percent of the oil income, 43 percent of the money sent by the Federal government, and 43 percent of the Region’s total income, after its collection, to be given to Sulaimani for salaries payment and implementation of projects.

Sabir stated that once the second suggestion is implemented, Sulaimani could send its total local income to the Region’s treasury.

The third and final suggestion that the PUK official mentioned was for the distribution of 50 percent of Sulaimani’s local income towards salaries payment, and the remaining 50 percent towards projects of the province’s governmental institutions.

Both parties have accused one another of handing over only part of the local income to the KRG. The KDP is dominant in Erbil and Duhok provinces and the PUK rules Sulaimani and Halabja provinces.

In a meeting with the representatives of foreign countries in Erbil on Thursday, PUK Co-chair Bafel Talabani addressed the recent financial crisis in Sulaimani province and its complications, stating that they will not remain silent towards “the unlawful” and “exploitative” wasting of the public income, and that reaching into people’s livelihoods was their “red line.”

On Thursday morning, Ziad Jabar, head of the PUK bloc in the Kurdistan Region parliament, claimed that in February, 78 billion Iraqi Dinars (53.4 million dollars) from Sulaimani’s income, that was supposed to be used to pay the salaries of people in the province, has been used by the KRG to pay off its own debts. 

Later that day, the KDP responded to the claims made by the PUK through a detailed, inclusive breakdown of the Region’s income. The report, drafted by the KDP MPs, Hevidar Ahmed and Liza Falakadin Kakayi, claimed that Sulaimani’s income was only 78 billion Iraqi dinars ($53.4 million), while according to the Region’s financial ratio system it should be making around 130 billion dinars ($89 million), meaning that around 40 percent of the city’s income was missing on a monthly basis.