The top court will convene on Monday in its first session of the year to hear a complaint by Iraqi MP Mustafa Sanad of Basra province against Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, with Sanad urging the court to strike down the loans for being “unconstitutional.”
The lawsuit calls on the Iraqi federal government to cease sending loans to the cash-strapped Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), of which Baghdad has already sent 2.1 trillion Iraqi dinars.
Public servants in the Kurdistan Region went unpaid for around 90 days before a deal was struck between Baghdad and Erbil in mid-September, in which the federal government agreed to loan the KRG 2.1 trillion Iraqi dinars to cover three months of payroll.
Salaries for the months of October, November, and December are yet to be paid.
The KRG has repeatedly claimed that it needs over 900 billion dinars per month to pay the salaries of civil servants.
The frequent delay in paying salaries, which has been an issue for the cash-strapped KRG for nearly a decade, has exacerbated the concerns of civil servants, many of whom have no other source of income.
Frustrated teachers in several parts of the Kurdistan Region have been on strike since September, demanding salaries be paid regularly, every month.
Under Erbil and Baghdad’s September loan agreement, the KRG’s share in the 2023 federal budget will be used to pay back the loans. If Erbil’s share is not enough to cover the loans, its dues will be settled using its allocations within the 2024 budget.
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