SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said it would send a formal letter to the Iraqi Council of Ministers to request its budget share of four months, which have yet to be send to the Region.
The KRG Council of Ministers held a meeting on Wednesday (November 25) to discuss the latest developments within the federal government over ongoing disputes.
During the meeting, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani affirmed that the KRG remains committed to finding a peaceful resolution to suspending issues with Baghdad within the framework of the Iraqi constitution.
Barzani further said the government would also continue to defend the Region’s constitutional rights and financial entitlements.
“Any delays in providing the Kurdistan’s fair share of the federal budget constitutes a violation of the rights of the people of the Kurdistan Region,” the KRG prime minister noted.
The KRG Council of Ministers called on the United Nations and the international community to assist in resolving disputes between Erbil and Baghdad.
“The Cabinet agreed to send an official request to the Federal Government for its budget shares for the months of May, June, July, and October of this year, which are currently still pending,” the KRG said in a statement.
In April, the federal government, led by former prime minister Adil Abdul Mahdi, cut off all budget transfers to the Kurdistan Region due to the KRG’s failure to export 250,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) through Baghdad.
In November 2019, Erbil and Baghdad reached a deal to resolve their ongoing disagreement over oil, after Erbil agreed to export 250,000 bpd through Baghdad to Turkey’s Ceyhan port in exchange for the Kurdistan Region’s share of the federal budget.
Relations between Baghdad and Erbil eased after Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi took office in May. The federal government has transferred the Region’s share as payment for public servants since Kadhimi became prime minister.
In August, Kadhimi told the KRG prime minister in a telephone call that the federal government would send 320 billion Iraqi dinars to the Kurdistan Region as payment for the Region’s employees until the end of the year.
On November 16, KRG representative in Baghdad Faris Issa said Baghdad would keep sending 320 billion dinars to the Region until the federal budget for fiscal year 2021 will be approved.
“What is written in the loan law will not affect the 320 billion dinars,” he said, referring to the fiscal deficit financing law, adopted by the Iraqi Council of Representatives on Nov. 12 without Kurds’ consent.
The law allows the federal government to borrow 12 trillion Iraqi dinars ($10 billion) in internal and external loans in order to pay salaries of public servants.
Kurdish lawmakers walked out of the parliament’s session due to their concern about the Kurdistan Region’s share set in the draft fiscal deficit financing law.
The law commits the Kurdistan Region to hand over non-oil revenues and an amount of oil that SOMO indicates to the federal government in exchange for an amount of money as payment for the Region’s public servants.
