SULAIMANI (ESTA) — A delegation from the Kurdistan Region headed to Baghdad on Monday for more talks on the budget law for 2021, a spokesperson said.
“Today, a Region’s delegation headed to Baghdad to implement the federal budget law,” Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) spokesman Jotiar Adil said in a tweet.
On Sunday, the KRG spokesman said two dossiers about oil expenditures and non-oil revenue would be sent to Baghdad this week.
“We hope we can solve the issues in the near future and Baghdad will send the Region’s financial entitlements,” he said in a press conference.
The Iraqi parliament approved the federal budget of 130 trillion Iraqi dinars ($89.65 billion) on March 31.
After months of wrangling, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the central government reached an agreement on thorny issues, including oil and non-oil revenues.
Under the 2021 budget law, the Kurdistan Region will be committed to produce 460,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd).
After deducting expenses for production operations in the Region, transport of oil and the domestic consumption of crude oil, the KRG must hand over to Baghdad revenues generated from regional oil exports of 250,000 bpd, according to Iraq’s SOMO pricing, as well as 50 percent of non-oil revenue.
The Kurdistan Region, in return, will receive its share of the budget.
A KRG delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani visited Baghdad last week and met with President Barham Salih, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and several other political leaders.
Talabani said upon his return to the Region that Erbil and Baghdad were close to finalizing mechanisms necessary to implement the budget law.
“Good will & carrying out the law to the letter will take #GOI & #KRI relations beyond the stalemate of the past year, while assisting our economic recovery,” he said in a tweet.
