KRG says Baghdad fund release ‘not enough’ for salary payment

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Regional Government said on Wednesday that Baghdad’s release of 598bn dinars is not even enough to pay the Kurdish public salaries, as the Region requires triple that figure to be able to fully cover the payment.

The remarks from KRG Spokesperson Peshawa Hawramani came after the Iraqi Minister of Finance had signed a partial disbursement of 598bn Iraqi dinars (nearly $456 million), as part of the Kurdish share in the budget. 

“In order to pay the public salaries, we need 912 billion dinars (over $690 million) from the Iraqi Ministry of Finance, but what has been disbursed is not even enough for the salary payment,” Hawramani said in a statement on Wednesday. 

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani ordered the cabinet to immediately begin filling the deficit and paying the public salaries, which has not been released since June, as Baghdad had not disbursed the Kurdish financial entitlements, the spokesperson added. 

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudani on Tuesday announced that his government would send part of the entitlements, without elaborating on the amount.

A KRG delegation on early Wednesday arrived in Baghdad to continue talks with the federal government on the outstanding issues between Erbil and Baghdad, particularly with regards to implementing the budget law that was approved in early June.

The Kurdish Council of Ministers is meeting in Erbil on Wednesday and is set to discuss the budget implementation as well as the ongoing discussions between Erbil and Baghdad, according to a government statement.

Iraq passed its three-year budget bill in June, considered to be one of the country’s budgets.

The state expenditures are set at 198.91 trillion Iraqi dinars ($153 billion) with a deficit of more than 64 trillion dinars (over $48 billion).

The Kurdistan Region’s share in the federal budget is set at 12.67 percent, amounting to more than $12 billion annually.