Politics

Claims of irregularities in Kurdish payrolls is ‘sort of harassment’, says finance ministry

The region’s ministry said it would do what is necessary and within the legal frameworks to respond to the Iraqi ministry.

Kurdistan 24 2024/01/23 22:59

The meeting of the negotiating delegation of the KRG and oil and gas production companies, Dec. 10, 2023. (Photo: KRG)

Kurdistan KRG Baghdad

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – The Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Finance and Economy on Tuesday responded to remarks made by the Iraqi minister of finance that irregularities had been detected in the Kurdish payrolls, a claim the KRG ministry had described as a “sort of harassment” to impede the release of financial entitlements.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) ministry has not detected any “irregular and illegal” about the payroll, which had been jointly audited by the Erbil and Baghdad auditing authorities for a month, a statement from the public office read.

"Such topics [claims of irregularities in regional payrolls] is a sort of harassment made to impede the release of [Kurdistan Region’s] salaries, which are legitimate and basic rights of the people,” the ministry’s media wrote.

The region’s ministry said it would do what is necessary and within the legal frameworks to respond to the Iraqi ministry.

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.

Since its adoption in early June, KRG officials have alleged the budget has not been implemented properly by the government. Instead of paying the Kurdish share, they allege Baghdad has released allowances to Erbil to cover public salaries. The KRG has previously said the 500 billion dinars (over $384 million) provided by Baghdad thus far is not sufficient to pay the salaries.

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

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