Governor: Kirkuk’s revenues mainly come from Kurdistan Region

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Kirkuk Governor announced on Monday that currently Kurdistan Region is the only source of revenue for Kirkuk province.

Najmadin Kareem stated, “As governorate of Kirkuk, we have only received $400 million from the Iraqi federal government so far in 2016.”  

Kirkuk Governorate’s media office released a statement following Karim’s meeting with the local government institutions and directorates regarding the public service projects in the governorate.

The statement said that “The governor stressed on accelerating the military operations to control the Islamic State (IS)-controlled cities and towns in Kirkuk especially the city of Hawija and its surrounding areas.”

According to the statement the call to liberate the other IS-controlled areas in Kirkuk province is due to the desperate humanitarian situation in these areas as more people try to relocate to escape IS extremists.

“More works need to be done to build camps in coordination with the UN for the new waves of the displaced,” Karim said in the meeting.

The governor revealed that Kirkuk’s revenues are only coming from the Kurdistan Region while the Iraqi government refuses to allocate a budget for Kirkuk budget and Internally Displaced People (IDPs) continue fleeing to the city.

Kirkuk officials previously revealed that the city now hosts 500,000 IDPs.

Oil production has been halted in the city and Baghdad does not send Kirkuk's share of petro-dollar budget.

Kirkuk Governor called for more administrative autonomy.

“I am sure most of the components of Kirkuk support the decision for Kirkuk administration to decide on its destiny and to decide on what to do for its people," Karim added.

"Baghdad should not weaken the administration’s ability to make decisions,” he concluded.

Editing by Ava Homa