Kurdistan Region President, Iraqi Premier address economic issues

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on Saturday met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani in Baghdad, according to a statement from the Kurdistan Region Presidency.

At the meeting, the two leaders discussed the current political and security situation in Iraq, as well as the latest developments in the region. Moreover, they stressed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, and national sovereignty, as well as keeping Iraq free from any regional conflicts.

The meeting also addressed the efforts made by both the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi Government to address various financial and economic issues, such as the country’s budget, salaries, and oil exports.

The parties came to the conclusion that these issues should be resolved in accordance with the Constitution, ensuring that the citizens of the Kurdistan Region are not adversely affected. President Nechirvan Barzani stressed the need for a definitive solution to the salary issues of Kurdistan Region civil servants.

The two sides further stressed the strengthening of dialogue and cooperation between them.

In the absence of paying the Kurdish share of the federal budget, the Iraqi government has released several payments as loans to Erbil for it to be able to pay its civil servants.

Since its adoption last 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 salaries.

Hailed as one of the country’s biggest budgets, state expenditures were set at 198.91 trillion Iraqi dinars ($153 billion), with a deficit of more than 64 trillion dinars (over $48 billion).

Editing by Dastan Muwaffaq