SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraq has sent 320 billion Iraqi dinars ($269 million) to the Kurdistan Region as payment for civil servants, Esta Media Network reporter said on Sunday.
Esta Media Network reporter in Erbil said the federal government had deposited the amount to the Region’s account in the Central Bank of Iraq in the Region’s capital.
On Saturday, a source from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Council of Ministers told Esta Media Network that the Kurdish government would distribute salaries of its public servants this week.
“Salary distribution might start Monday or Tuesday,” said the source, who asked not to be identified.
The Kurdistan Region is facing an economic crisis due to falling of oil prices, Baghdad’s decision to halt sending salaries of the Region’s civil servants and the coronavirus pandemic.
As a large portion of the Region’s revenue relies exclusively on oil exports, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has failed to pay salaries of the months of April, May, June, July, August and September to its civil servants.
Employees at the general directorate of taxes and real estate and the general directorate of education in Sulaimani as well as the Sulaimani branch of the Kurdistan Teachers Union have gone strike in protest of salary delays in the Region.
