Iraq
KRG Finance Minister Awat Sheikh Janab speaking to reporters in Baghdad on January 31, 2025. Photo: Rudaw
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region’s finance minister struck an optimistic tone after meeting with Iraqi officials in Baghdad on Friday to discuss budget amendments and salary payments for Kurdistan Region’s civil servants, as Erbil seeks to secure its share of federal funds amid ongoing financial struggles.
"We talked about the lists of civil servants and pensioners. Both sides worked as a team in a very positive atmosphere. I hope that they will finish by tomorrow so that the [salaries] are sent on Sunday,” Finance Minister Awat Sheikh Janab told reporters following the meeting.
Karwan Yarwayis, a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) lawmaker in the Iraqi parliament, however, cautioned that there is no final deal yet.
"This is not the first meeting and will not be the last," he told Rudaw, adding that "they have not reached a concrete agreement yet."
He accused Erbil and Baghdad for failing to find a permanent solution, resolving the problem "from the roots."
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) delegation visiting Baghdad includes the finance minister, head of the Diwan of the Kurdistan Region's Council of Ministers Omed Sabah, and other top officials totaling nearly 20 people.
Rudaw understands that the meeting also included Iraqi Finance Minister Taif Sami and took place at the Baghdad home of Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, a Kurd.
The KRG has been working to redirect funds from its share of the federal budget to address salary shortfalls that persisted throughout last year.
“If both ministries make an agreement, [the bill] will easily get votes in the parliament,” Kurdish lawmaker Soran Omar told Rudaw’s Peshawa Bakhtyar.
Erbil and Baghdad have held several meetings to discuss amendments to the previously approved 2025 federal budget law and address obstacles to paying the Kurdistan Region’s civil servant salaries.
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.
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