Kurdish Delegation Fails to Separate Salaries from Budget in Talks with Iraqi Government
In a recent turn of events, a delegation from Iraq’s Kurdistan region failed to persuade Iraq’s federal government to separate employee salaries from Kurdistan’s share of the general budget. The delegation, led by the region’s Minister of Finance and Economy, Awat Sheikh Janab, faced a deadlock with the federal government over the crucial issue.
Non-Oil Revenue Dilemma
According to an anonymous Kurdish source from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, the stalemate stems from a stipulation in the general budget law passed by the Iraqi parliament earlier this year. The law states that in exchange for the federal Ministry of Finance’s commitment to fund the region’s entitlements monthly, Kurdistan must deliver its non-oil revenues to the state. However, the narrative reveals that the agreement between the federal government and Kurdistan has not been fully honored, leading to recurring problems with funding the region’s employee salaries.
Discrepancy in Oil Production Costs
Apart from the non-oil revenue issue, the two parties also disagreed on the cost of oil production between companies operating in Kurdistan and others in the rest of the provinces. The federal general budget law for 2023-2025 sets the cost of producing and transporting each barrel of oil at $6-9. In stark contrast, the Kurdistan Natural Resources Ministry states that oil production costs in the region range from $32-91 per barrel, a significant discrepancy that poses yet another challenge to their agreement.
Unilateral Control and Rejected Requests
Adding to the complexities, the Kurdistan coordination framework is adopting a unilateral internal strategy to control all state positions, not just in the Shiite space but also in the wider Iraqi public space. This move has been met with some resistance, as evidenced by the Iraqi High Independent Commission for Elections’ rejection of a request from the former Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Mohammed Al-Halbousi. Al-Halbousi had requested that his parliamentary seat be filled by a candidate from the Progress Party, a request that the commission turned down.
Meanwhile, the West Bank has seen a surge in tensions, coinciding with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to the region. Blinken’s visit comes amid efforts to extend a humanitarian truce in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, along with the exchange of more prisoners held in Gaza for Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons. The interplay of these events paints a complex picture of the ongoing political and social dynamics in the region.
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