Intermittent remittance contradicts Iraqi budget law: Kurdish Parliamentarian

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi Ministry of Finance deposited approximately 568 billion dinars into four separate lists for the salaries of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) civil servants. Sending money in lists and installments contradicts Article 13 of the Iraqi three-year budget law.

The Iraqi Ministry of Finance has now disbursed salaries to some Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) employees. However, this was done in a peculiar manner, contrary to the three-year budget law, which prohibits sending money in installments.

As per a letter from the Iraqi Ministry of Finance, around 568 billion dinars has been transferred to the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) account.

The four lists include civilian and military pensions, the social protection network, relatives of martyrs, and 37 ministries and departments. Notably, no funds were sent to the Peshmerga forces, the Ministry of Interior, and the Kurdistan Region’s Security Agency (Asayish) by the central government.

This method of remitting money has raised concerns among Kurdistan Regional Government officials as it goes against the Iraqi three-year budget law. Article 13 specifies that after the delivery of 400,000 barrels of oil per day by the Kurdistan Region, the federal government is obligated to provide the financial entitlements of the Kurdistan Region.

To address this issue, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) submitted a salary list to the Iraqi Ministry of Finance. However, Baghdad continues to provide salaries in the form of lists and intermittently, casting doubt on the future of the process.

Sipan Sherwani, a Kurdish parliamentarian in the Iraqi parliament, cautioned against the Ministry of Finance's new approach, expressing concerns that Baghdad might arbitrarily pay the salaries of specific ministries in the future.