Iraq
Kurdish lawmakers meeting with Jassim al-Umairi, head of Iraq’s Supreme Federal Court in Baghdad on November 25, 2024. Photo: Shakhawan Abdullah/Facebook
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish lawmakers on Monday met with the head of Iraq’s Supreme Federal Court in Baghdad to discuss the late payment of Kurdistan Region civil servants’ salaries, agreeing that wages must be paid on time.
Shakhawan Abdullah, deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament, said he and the heads of Kurdish blocs in the Iraqi legislature met with Jassim al-Umairi, head of the top court.
“We very clearly discussed the problem of salaries of the [Kurdistan] Region’s civil servants who have not received their salaries for two months for various unfounded excuses from the [Iraqi] finance minister,” Abdullah said in a post on Facebook late Monday.
Baghdad has shouldered the payment of Kurdistan Region’s over one million civil servants this year, albeit with delays.The Iraqi government has pointed to repeated problems, such as duplicate names in the payroll list.
Kurdistan Region’s public employees have yet to be paid for October.
The statement from Abdullah emphasized that the delays are “contrary to the decision of the federal court,” which stipulates that “the salaries of the Kurdistan Region should not be delayed based on excuses.”
He added that Umairi reaffirmed the court’s decision and pledged to hold a meeting to address the issue.
Masoud Haider, Iraq's former deputy finance minister, said in a Facebook post on Monday that salary disbursement delays in the Kurdistan Region “will not be solved under the current mechanism” and would remain subject to “the mood of a minister” even in 2025.
Earlier in the month, Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani on his visit to Erbil and Sulaimani met with Kurdish leaders and pledged to send the salaries of Kurdistan Region’s civil servants “as early as possible.”
The KRG has failed to pay the salaries of its civil servants on-time and in-full for a decade due to a financial crisis that worsened when its oil exports were halted in March 2023 following a court ruling on a dispute between Iraq and Turkey over the Kurdistan Region’s independent oil sales.
Earlier this month, the Iraqi government approved a proposal to amend articles from the federal budget to authorize compensation to companies operating in the Kurdistan Region for oil production and transportation costs, setting the rate at $16 per barrel. On Tuesday, the Iraqi parliament is set to discuss the bill.
Erbil currently is dependent on local income sources and its controversial federal budget share.
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