Iraqi federal government has agreed to release the Kurdistan’s public salaries following days of intensive discussions between Erbil and Baghdad authorities.
Iraqi and Kurdish governments agreed to implement the federal budget clauses related to Kurdistan.
The Kurdish public employees have been paid their July salaries. The Kurdish authorities has called on Baghdad to pay the Kurdish employees’ salaries.
“We will pay The Kurdistan’s public salaries as soon as Baghdad releases the financial entitlements” KRG spox Peshawa Hawramani pointed out in a statement.
Per the budget deal, the Iraqi oil marketing company, SOMO, would be in charge of selling the Kurdish oil. Iraq passed its three-year budget bill in June, The Kurdistan’s share in the federal budget is set at 12.67 percent, amounting to more than $12 billion annually.
Kurdistan Region had been exporting and managing its oil independently since 2014, But It was suspended in March after Iraq won a case against KRG’s independent oil exports in Paris-based ICC.
Prior to the suspension, KRG was exporting over 400,000 barrels of oil per day through a pipeline to Turkey’s Ceyhan port.
The management of oil and gas has been a contentious issue between KRG and Iraqi government for over a decade. It all started in 2014, When Iraq cut the Kurdistan’s public salaries as a way to limit and weaken Kurdistan’s economy. Later In June 2014, Kurdish parliament allowed the Kurdish government to sell and export oil in order to cover public expenditures and salaries.
Following the decision, Kurdistan faced a devastating economic crisis. Due to the dramatic drop in oil’s price and thousands of Iraqi refugees, Kurdistan’s economy suffered even more. In order to deal with the crisis, The KRG government continously delayed the payment of public employees, and cut 25% of their salaries. Since 2020, The economic crisis has ended and Public employees were able to receive their salaries each month.
