SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Baghdad has cut 200 billion dinars of the Kurdistan Region’s share as the first step against refusing the Federal Court’s decision, Esta Media Network has learned.
From this moment Baghdad would not send the 200 billion dinars of monthly share dedicated to the Kurdistan region, according to information Esta Media Network has obtained.
Bagdad’s reaction against the Kurdistan Region came as the region’s judicial council has refused in an official statement to abide by the Federal Court’s decision regarding the oil and gas industry on Saturday.
In February, Iraq’s federal court deemed the oil and gas law regulating the oil industry in Kurdistan unconstitutional and demanded that the Kurdistan Region government hand over their crude supplies.
The federal court’s decision gives the oil ministry in Baghdad the authority to manage oil and gas fields in Kurdistan and challenge the contracts that the region has made with the international oil firms.
Earlier on Monday, the Iraqi finance minister warned the Kurdistan Region to hand over its oil and gas industry to the central government and threatened the region by cutting its 12% of share in the Iraqi budget.
“The ministry would not send the 12 percent of budget share and other financial allocations to the region” unless the Kurdistan Region handed over the region’s oil exports to the central government, and abided by the Federal Court’s decision, the minister said.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa AL-Kazemi on Tuesday said during a press conference that the Iraqi government abides to implement the Federal Court’s decision regarding the Kurdistan Region’s oil and gas law.
