Kurdistan Region budget has been sent, says Iraqi PM

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani on Tuesday announced that the Kurdistan Region's share of the budget for this month has been sent.

The Iraqi Prime Minister also revealed that the Kurdistan Region provides 55,000 barrels of oil daily for domestic consumption to the Iraqi government.

"Both the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) coordinate very well," al-Sudani said.

Despite confirming the payment, the premier stopped short of clarifying the exact dollar amount of the budget sent, however, it was previously calculated to be an annual appropriation of $12 billion for the KRG per the new budget.

The PM also said that another meeting will be held on Wednesday with the presence of politicians, a technical delegation of the Oil and Natural Resources Ministries of the Kurdistan Regional Government and legal experts on Iraqi petroleum laws.

Lastly, the PM stressed the fact that current delays in the implementation of the general budget will be reviewed by the State Council, which will publish its guidelines this week.

On July 27, Baghdad agreed to release the Kurdistan Region’s public salaries following days of intensive discussions between the Kurdistan Region and the Iraqi federal authorities.

Read More: Baghdad agrees to pay the Kurdish public salaries, says KRG delegate

Hailed as one of the country’s biggest budgets, the state expenditures were set at 198.91 trillion Iraqi dinars ($153 billion) with a deficit of more than 64 trillion dinars (over $48 billion).

The management of oil and gas has been among the contentious issues between Erbil and Baghdad for over a decade, leading to the suspension of the Region’s share in previous federal budgets.