SULAIMANI (ESTA) – A number of lawmakers from the Kurdistan Parliament issued a fresh appeal against overdue salaries criticizing oil and gas policy between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Baghdad.
Twenty-one members of the parliament signed the petition and said the KRG’s oil policy and its disputes with Baghdad has brough the people “misery.”
“Oil, the Region’s oil policy and disputes with Baghdad must not bring misery and crises for the people,” the lawmakers said.
The Kurdistan Region’s revenue for salaries almost completely depends on oil exports, foreign funds and 200 billion Iraqi dinars ($137 million) promised by the federal government.
The federal government, however, has yet to transfer the money to the Kurdistan Region, causing salary delays.
“In the next few days, a KRG’s high delegation must attend the parliament session to give clarification about the Kurdistan Region’s revenues, obstacles of revenue collection,” the statement by 21 lawmakers read.
They also encouraged the KRG to send a delegation to Baghdad and resolve outstanding budget disputes between them amid a ruling by Iraqi federal court which deemed an oil and gas law regulating the oil industry in the Kurdistan Region unconstitutional and demanded the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) hand over their crude supplies.
