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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A Kurdish delegation will visit Baghdad by next week to discuss the Kurdistan Region’s share in the federal budget, according to officials.
There has been a long-standing dispute between Erbil and Baghdad over the allocation of federal funds. The Kurdistan Region has yet to receive funds from Iraq’s 2021 federal budget, despite the bill being passed in late March.
"The regional government is waiting for the Iraqi government to send the Region’s share of the budget, as Baghdad has not sent any money so far,” Peshawa Hawrami, a spokesperson for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) told state media outlet Iraqi News Agency (INA) on Thursday.
Hawrami added that there would be talks on a cancellation to the reduction of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) employees’ salaries.
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) MP Sherwan Mirza confirmed the delegation's visit and said discussions would continue on the share of the budget reaching the Region.
Article 11 of Iraq’s budget law dictates a share of 12.67 percent of federal funds for the Kurdistan Region. In return, it requires the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to hand over the value of 250,000 barrels of oil a day to Baghdad, in addition to 50 percent of non-oil revenues, such as customs fees and taxes.
According to the head of the financial committee in the Kurdistan Parliament, Ziyad Jabbar, around 1.2 million people in Kurdistan, both employees and non-employees, receive government salaries.
If the funds, added to the rest of the KRG’s revenues, add up to 895 billion dinars ($615 million), then the government will be able to pay its employees in full, “salaries will 100 percent be distributed without any cuts," spokesperson for Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani Samir Hawrami told Rudaw’s Snwr Majid in April.
The KRG has struggled to pay its public sector employees on time and in full for months because of an economic crisis.
Updated at 9:21 pm
There has been a long-standing dispute between Erbil and Baghdad over the allocation of federal funds. The Kurdistan Region has yet to receive funds from Iraq’s 2021 federal budget, despite the bill being passed in late March.
"The regional government is waiting for the Iraqi government to send the Region’s share of the budget, as Baghdad has not sent any money so far,” Peshawa Hawrami, a spokesperson for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) told state media outlet Iraqi News Agency (INA) on Thursday.
Hawrami added that there would be talks on a cancellation to the reduction of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) employees’ salaries.
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) MP Sherwan Mirza confirmed the delegation's visit and said discussions would continue on the share of the budget reaching the Region.
Article 11 of Iraq’s budget law dictates a share of 12.67 percent of federal funds for the Kurdistan Region. In return, it requires the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to hand over the value of 250,000 barrels of oil a day to Baghdad, in addition to 50 percent of non-oil revenues, such as customs fees and taxes.
According to the head of the financial committee in the Kurdistan Parliament, Ziyad Jabbar, around 1.2 million people in Kurdistan, both employees and non-employees, receive government salaries.
If the funds, added to the rest of the KRG’s revenues, add up to 895 billion dinars ($615 million), then the government will be able to pay its employees in full, “salaries will 100 percent be distributed without any cuts," spokesperson for Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani Samir Hawrami told Rudaw’s Snwr Majid in April.
The KRG has struggled to pay its public sector employees on time and in full for months because of an economic crisis.
Updated at 9:21 pm
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