KRG ready to implement revenue sharing agreement with Baghdad

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) states that it is ready to implement the oil export and revenue sharing with the Iraqi government with one condition.

On Wednesday, the KRG Council of Ministers held a meeting with the Kurdistan Region blocs in the Iraqi parliament regarding the agreement with Baghdad over oil exports and revenue sharing.

Following the meeting, Abdulsattar Majid, Minister of Agriculture, told reporters that the meeting discussed the data and information provided by the Kurdistan MPs in Baghdad and the KRG shared its information and data about oil exports and revenues.

Majid added that a committee will be formed to evaluate the suggested recommendations that were decided by the two sides.

“As KRG, we have decided to hand over oil export to Baghdad and abide by the national budget law for 2017 if Baghdad pays one dollar more than the revenue KRG gets from independent oil sale,” Minister Majid said.

Jamal Kochar, a Kurdish MP told Kurdistan24 that he has also suggested to the KRG to abide by the budget law for two months to find out to what extent the central government will abide by it too. “The KRG told us that they will assess the option,” he said.

On December 7, the Iraqi parliament voted on the 2017 budget law in which Iraqi government agreed to pay the 17 percent share of the Kurdistan Region. In return, the KRG will export 550,000 barrels of oil per day via the Iraqi government.

The Iraqi government cut the Kurdistan Region’s constitutional share in early 2014, forcing the KRG to independently export its crude oil.

Editing by Ava Homa