Kurdistan Cabinet Convenes to Discuss Employee Salaries Issue
The first and most pressing item on the agenda is a detailed review of the Region’s public payroll system.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — The Kurdistan Region Council of Ministers will hold its regular session on Wednesday, primarily focusing on resolving the long-standing issue of public employee salaries, a matter that continues to weigh heavily on the region’s economic and political landscape.
Chaired by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and attended by Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani, the cabinet meeting will be held at the Saad Abdullah Hall in Erbil. The session is expected to continue until midday, addressing three main agenda items — with public sector salaries topping the list.
The first and most pressing item on the agenda is a detailed review of the Region’s public payroll system. The discussion is going to be led by the President of the Financial Audit Bureau and the Cabinet Secretary, who will present their evaluations and proposals to the ministers.
This meeting comes at a critical time, as the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) continues its unwavering efforts to fulfill its obligations to public servants despite enduring years of unjust financial pressure. The root causes of salary delays lie not within the Region, but in deep-rooted political and constitutional violations by the federal government in Baghdad, which has repeatedly withheld the Region’s rightful share of the national budget.
Since 2014, the Kurdistan Region has shouldered immense challenges — from the costly war against ISIS, which the Peshmerga led on behalf of the world, to the global collapse in oil prices. Yet despite these burdens, the KRG has prioritized maintaining governance, services, and security without the stable financial support it is entitled to under the Iraqi Constitution. Baghdad’s politicization of budget transfers and failure to provide regular payments have placed a heavy toll on the Region’s civil servants, who include essential workers such as teachers, medical staff, and security forces.
Rather than remain idle, the KRG has consistently pursued dialogue and compromise to secure the Region’s constitutional rights. It has also implemented necessary internal reforms aimed at ensuring greater transparency, increasing non-oil revenues, and protecting the salaries of its employees. Today’s cabinet meeting reaffirms the government’s commitment to resolving these issues in a sustainable and dignified manner, while standing firm on the Region’s legal entitlements and political autonomy.
The KRG continues to call on Baghdad to honor its obligations and engage in sincere, depoliticized cooperation — not only to serve the people of Kurdistan, but to uphold justice and unity across all of Iraq.
Further details and decisions emerging from the session are expected to be shared in a formal government statement later today.