KRG to set a budget law for the year 2022

The Iraqi government has ordered the disbursement of 200 billion Iraqi dinars to the KRG next week.

Dler S. Mohammed 2022/01/15 19:46

Parween Nouri, Budget Director-General at Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry of Economy and Finance, January 15, 2022. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)

Iraq Parween Nouri KRG Budget 2022 Kurdistan Region

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A top Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) official said on Saturday that Erbil is setting its operating budget for 2022.

“The KRG has not received its share of the [national] operating budget from Baghdad since 2014” but is working hard so it has one, said Parween Nouri, Budget Director-General at the KRG Ministry of Economy and Finance, during a press conference.

She explained that the federal Iraqi government stopped sending the KRG funds, including a provincial development budget, in 2014. Nouri noted the KRG’s negotiating delegations going to Baghdad must emphasize reducing the Iraqi government’s sovereign budget, funds used to run government offices and facilities.

According to Nouri, the so-called sovereign budget has ballooned to over 20 times the size it was in 2005. She explained that funding for the sovereign budget is taken out of the general budget, and the KRG’s share of it is then calculated out of the remainder.

Erbil and Baghdad, in June 2021, agreed that the federal government must send 200 billion Iraqi dinars to KRG monthly, which would be used to pay public sector employees.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi ordered disbursing the funds for January while chairing a Council of Ministers meeting on Tuesday.

“The money wiring procedures, through the Iraqi Ministry of Finance, the treasury department, and the banks, will be finalized this week and hopefully by next week, the 200 billion dinars will be deposited into the KRG bank account,” Faris Esa, head of the KRG representation office in Baghdad, told Kurdistan 24.