KRG delegation to visit Baghdad for financial entitlements talks

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A new high-level Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is set to visit Baghdad on Monday to continue talks on the Kurdish region’s share in the budget and other financial entitlements.

Omed Sabah, the KRG president of Diwan, will lead the delegation and meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudani, he told reporters in Erbil on Sunday

The KRG officials are set to discuss the Kurdistan Region’s share in the Iraqi budget and financial entitlements, Sabah said.

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani is in “constant contact” with the Iraqi premier and has supervised the work of KRG delegations to Baghdad, the official said.

“Our discussion with Prime Minister Al-Sudani will be on the salaries of the Kurdistan Region employees,” he said.

However, the Kurdish region’s share in the budget has been set as 12 percent, the semi-autonomous region has not received its share since the three-year budget’s approval in June. Instead, Baghdad has paid Erbil’s financial entitlements in loans until September.

The KRG has officially requested Baghdad to send additional funds to cover the remaining months of the year until the amendment of the budget law, Sabah said.

The 700 billion IQD ($538 million) is supposed to be transferred monthly to the Kurdistan Region per an agreement between the two governments.

Although the Kurdish region has transferred the agreed-upon amount, Baghdad has paid far less than what it had initially committed itself to, according to KRG officials.

Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Saturday said the rights of the Region’s teachers could no longer be violated, particularly after Erbil had presented Baghdad with “detailed data” about its payroll.