SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Talks between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal government will continue in order to secure the Region’s share of the federal budget for 2021, a Kurdish official said on Tuesday.
A KRG delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani met with members of Iraqi parliament’s committee of finance in Baghdad on Monday night to discuss the Region’s financial entitlements and share of the federal budget.
Spokesman of KRG deputy premier Samir Hawrami said both sides had discussed oil revenue and expenditures in detail.
“All the necessary data and information of the Kurdistan Region were presented to the Iraqi parliament’s committee of finance,” Hawrami told Esta Media Network.
“Meetings will continue so as to fix the Dec. 12 agreement between the KRG and the federal government in the federal budget for 2021,” he said.
Talabani who led a high-level delegation to Baghdad said in December that Erbil and Baghdad had reached an agreement over the 2021 federal budget bill, approved by the Iraqi Council of Ministers in the same month.
The draft budget law commits the Kurdistan Region to export 250,000 bpd through Baghdad in exchange for the Region’s share of the federal budget, which is set at 12.67%.
Coordinator of Iraqi parliament’s committee of finance Ahmed Safar said the KRG delegation had presented data and information about the Region’s oil and non-oil revenues to the committee during the meeting.
“The delegation has also showed readiness to help with the federal government resolve issues in root,” Safar told Esta Media Network.
Mhasin Hamdoun, member of the finance committee in the Iraqi parliament, said the meeting was “good and positive”, predicting that the future talks would be positive as well.
“There was no disagreement over the Region’s share, and the Kurdistan Region’s revenues were discussed during the meeting,” she told Esta Media Network.
