Delegation of Iraqi auditing authority arrived in Kurdistan Region: KRG official

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Hunar Jamal, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry of Finance and Economy, on Saturday told Kurdistan24 that a delegation of the Iraqi Federal Board of Supreme Audit has arrived in the Kurdistan Region.

The spokesperson stated that the delegation would begin an audit of expenditures and revenues for the second half of last year, as required by the Iraqi budget law that requires an audit of revenues every three to six months.

It is scheduled that the delegation will visit the Ministries of Finance and Natural Resources.

Although the Kurdish region has transferred the agreed-upon amount, Baghdad has paid far less than what it had initially committed itself to, according to KRG officials.

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 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).

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.