ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A delegation from the Kurdistan Region’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) will visit Baghdad in the coming days to discuss Erbil-Baghdad financial issues with the federal authorities, a senior KDP official announced on Thursday.
“A delegation [from KDP] will come from Kurdistan to meet with the State Administration [Coalition]... and the finance ministry because the ministry is the cause of the issue. They might also meet with the federal court,” Azad Hamid, head of KDP’s Baghdad branch, told Rudaw’s Halkawt Aziz on Thursday.
It remains unclear when the visit will take place but Rudaw has learnt that the delegation will arrive in Baghdad next week.
Erbil and Baghdad have been at odds over the Kurdish government’s share of the federal budget for years. Irregular delivery of funds from Baghdad has left the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in dire financial straits for over a decade, a situation that worsened in the past year with the halt of the Kurdistan Region’s oil exports.
Erbil has made only one salary payment to its civil servants since October last year. It has also refused to receive a partial payment from the Iraqi government for February salaries, demanding the full amount instead.
Iraq’s Supreme Federal Court last month ordered the KRG to submit a breakdown of the monthly budget for the Region’s employees’ salaries to the federal finance ministry so that Baghdad could start paying the Region’s share from the federal budget. The ruling mandates the Kurdish government to open accounts for its employees at state-owned banks – a process dubbed “localization” by Baghdad.
Earlier this month, the Iraqi finance ministry announced that it had begun paying the Kurdistan Region’s civil servant salaries for the month of February while noting that the payment of salaries for March “will take place once the Region meets the salary settlement requirements,” referring to the opening of bank accounts for KRG employees.
The federal court has ruled that the payment of the Region’s civil servants’ salaries by Baghdad should continue in cash until the localization of the KRG’s employees is complete.
The Iraqi government has so far provided around 600 million dinars for the February salaries of the Region’s civil servants while the KRG says it needs more than 900 million dinars to be able to distribute the salaries.
The KRG has submitted the names of all civil servants to Baghdad, except for those of security forces members. Baghdad demands details of these employees as well but Erbil refuses to hand them over without providing an explanation.
The cash-strapped KRG has repeatedly accused Baghdad of not making regular payments of its share of federal funds. Last June, Iraq passed a three-year budget of which the Kurdistan Region's share is 12.6 percent. Baghdad has claimed it has fully implemented its financial obligations to the KRG, including through loans to assist the Region in paying the salaries of its civil servants.
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