"His Excellency stressed the need to ensure basic services to people and start the construction and reconstruction phase, appreciating efforts from the government and parliament to prepare, study, and legislate the budget bill,” stated the president’s office.
Parliament passed the budget bill on January 23 before going into recess on January 29.
Lawmakers from the Kurdistan Region were satisfied with its language.
It contained measures guaranteeing the payment of Kurdistan Regional Government’s employees even if the KRG does not hand over the specified 250,000 bpd to Baghdad.
It also allowed a portion of the defense ministry's budget to go the Peshmerga ministry.
In 2014, faced with a financial crisis caused by a budget cut from Baghdad, falling oil prices, a costly war with ISIS, and hosting nearly 2 million displaced Iraqis, the KRG introduced a salary saving scheme.
The wildly unpopular measure slashed the salaries of state employees and delayed payments for months at a time.
With federal funding established, the KRG can more easily form a new cabinet following its parliamentary election on September 30.
