SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) bloc in the Iraqi parliament on Monday called on the Kurdish government to hand over oil to the federal government.
Members of the PUK bloc in the Council of Representatives held a press conference in Baghdad, urging the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to show “goodwill” and hand over the amount of oil set in the draft federal budget bill to Baghdad.
The PUK bloc also called on the federal government to send the Kurdistan Region’s financial entitlements and salaries to Erbil as an initiative to resolve the issues between Erbil and Baghdad.
KRG Deputy Prime Minister Qubad 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 barrels of oil per day (bpd) through Baghdad in exchange for the Region’s share of the federal budget, which is set at 12.67%.
Talabani also said in December that the KRG would export 250,000 bpd through Baghdad once the federal budget was adopted by the Iraqi Council of Representatives.
