PM Barzani arrives in Baghdad

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani arrived in Baghdad on Thursday, heading a top Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) delegation for budget talks with Iraqi officials. 

Iraqi Minister of Youth and Sports Ahmed Muhammad Hussein Al-Mubarqa, along with several other top Iraqi officials, including Deputy Iraqi Speaker of Parliament and Minister of Construction and Housing and Public Works, received Barzani at Baghdad International Airport. 

The Kurdish premier heads a high-level KRG delegation, consisting of Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani, Ministers of interior, finance, and economy as well as other top officials. 

The delegation is set to meet with senior Iraqi officials on Thursday in Baghdad to discuss the outstanding issues between Erbil and Baghdad, particularly the budget dispute. 

Erbil has repeatedly called on Baghdad to pay its share of the federal budget adopted in June. 

Despite fulfilling its obligations under the agreements, Erbil says the federal government has not paid its civil servants according to what the two sides had previously agreed upon. 

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 in order to cover the public salaries. The KRG has previously said the 500 billion dinars (over $384 million) 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.