KRG delegation to visit Baghdad for budget talks
“The delegation is to resolve the issue decisively,” he said.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – A ministerial delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is set to visit Baghdad next week to continue budget talks with the Iraqi federal government, according to the government spokesperson.
The delegation will discuss the issue of the Kurdistan Region’s public salaries as well as the share in the federal budget, which has not been released, Peshawa Hawramani, the KRG spokesperson, told Kurdistan24 on Tuesday.
“The delegation is set to resolve the issue decisively,” he said.
Headed by Minister of Finance and Economy Awat Sheikh Janab, the delegation will also discuss the oil and gas draft that is currently being prepared by the federal government, he added.
The upcoming delegation is the first of its kind in 2024.
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 diplomats 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.