SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraq’s al-Fateh alliance in the Iraqi parliament on Wednesday refuted a decision by the Council of Ministers to send an amount of money to the Kurdistan Region as the Region’s share of the federal budget.
Al-Fateh Alliance led by Hadi Amri said in a statement that the decision was a “blatant violation” of the federal budget for 2021 and that it would take legal measures against it.
The Iraqi Council of Ministers decided on Tuesday to send 200 billion Iraqi dinars ($135,627 million) per month to the Kurdistan Region as a share of the federal budget.
Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said the same day that he had spoken by phone with Iraqi Premier Mustafa al-Kadhimi and that both sides reached a deal that will see “federal budgetary payments restored to the KRI and backdated to Jan 2021”, referring to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Al-Fateh alliance said the KRG had failed to abide by its commitments in the past years and that it had not handed over any amount of money to the federal government in the past five months.
“We are looking with great shock at the decision of the Iraqi Council of Ministers regarding sending 200 billion dinars to the Kurdistan Region monthly,” it said.
“While we stress the necessity of disturbing salaries to the Region’s employees, funded by oil exports from the Region, we announce our rejection of this decision, and we hold the government responsible for the complications that result from it,” the alliance added.
“We will take all legal ways to prevent it and preserve the rights of all Iraqi people, especially the governorates that are clearly deprived and many of their people are still below the poverty line.”
The decision came after a Kurdish delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani visited Baghdad to hold talks with officials regarding the implementation of the federal budget law.
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.
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.
On Wednesday, the Iraqi parliament’s finance committee called on the federal government to abide by the budget law regarding the Region’s share.
“The budget law has set a clear way which does not allow change or courtesy in the issue. It rather set obligations for the Region’s government and the central government,” it added.
It also warned parties that violate the budget law, saying “they will take responsibility”.
