SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Baghdad sent 400 billion dinars to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Tuesday, the finance ministry announced.
“The Iraqi Council of Ministers transferred 400 billion dinars to the bank account of the Ministry of Finance of the Kurdistan Region in the Erbil branch of the Central Bank of Iraq today,” it said in a statement.
It’s yet to be clear whether the transferred money will be dedicated to providing KRG’s public servants’ salaries or not, as the statement did not offer further details.
Baghdad’s decision to send the money came in light of the recent agreement between the KRG and the Federal government regarding Kurdish crude exports.
Recently, Baghdad and Erbil agreed and signed a deal to export Kurdish crude via Iraq’s national organization for oil marketing (SOMO).
The agreement stipulates that Baghdad in return shall send a monthly fund to the KRG until the approval of the national budget 2023 by the Iraqi Council of Representatives.
The deal also signified a new stage of Baghdad-Erbil relationships.
Both sides have been at odds over independent Kurdish crude export by the KRG since 2014 via a pipeline in Turkey that Baghdad repeatedly claimed “illegal” and “unconstitutional”.
The Kurdish crude exports were halted late last match following an international arbitration ruling in the interest of Baghdad, against Turkey.
KRG heavily depended on its independent crude export revenue to pay its public servants’ salaries, but the arbitration ruling re-brought Baghdad and Erbil together.
