KRG launches financial reform roadmap

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (K24) – Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) recently launched a roadmap for “reform and modernization” to overcome economic and financial crises.

Nechirvan Barzani, Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, announced the plans at the opening of a financial reform conference in Erbil, on Wednesday. “The KRG will implement strategies to provide protection and safety, offer our youth opportunities, make our economy stronger, and preserve natural resources for future generations.”

“Last year was an unusually difficult year for the region. The decrease of oil prices from $110 to below $30 was unexpected,” Barzani added.

In the following years, our responsibility and the KRG’s will be “striving to ensure that the economic system benefits all citizens,” he said.

According to Barzani, the fall of oil prices is negatively affecting the financial, economic, and the social situation of Kurdistan.

Acknowledging that the Kurds have well-demonstrated their resilience, the prime minister promised that the KRG will reach its ultimate objectives. “Dae'sh will be destroyed, new industries will be built—including exporting natural gas internationally—and we will establish justice, and a united and prosperous community.”

Qubad Talabani, KRG Deputy PM, who also presented at the conference stated, “Reform in the economic sector should start first within the Finance and Economic Ministries… the reform will be our first step toward stabilizing the economy.”

The KRG has begun the arduous process of renewing governmental institutions and ministries. “We decided to start with Ministry of Finance and Economy because for as long as these ministries remain unchanged, all our efforts will be limited,” Talabani added.

Reported by Baxtiyar Goran

Edited by Benjamin Kweskin and Ava Homa