The Iraqi parliament's finance committee on Thursday amended two Articles of 2023 draft budget bill relating to the Kurdistan Region’s share of federal funds.
One of the amendments requires Erbil to pay back 10 percent of the cuts made to the salaries of public sector employees on a monthly basis.
Prime MInister Barzani said the amendments are detrimental to the people of the Kurdistan Region and are in contradiction to the constitution, while also violating previous agreements between Erbil and Baghdad.
“The main reason for the pay cuts was Baghdad, not the Kurdistan Region,” said Barzani, adding that paying back the cuts made to the salaries was the debt of the federal government.
The Kurdish premier added that if it was Erbil’s responsibility to pay back the cuts, they would not need a decision from the Iraqi federal government forcing them to do it.
The Kurdistan Regional Government made significant salary cuts to its public sector employees in 2014, after its budget share was cut by Baghdad, oil prices plummeted, and war with the Islamic State (ISIS) erupted.
PM Barzani’s speech came minutes before Iraq’s top court deemed the Kurdish parliament’s self-extension “unconstitutional”, further complicating the relations between Erbil and Baghdad.
