PM Abadi announced at his weekly press conference on Tuesday that Baghdad is prepared to pay the salaries of the state employees in the Kurdistan Region after it takes control of the Region’s oil export, and following an audit of the number of employees.
The KRG has stated it has about 1.2 million people on its payroll who will cost Baghdad $771 million a month.
Abadi responded that number is bigger than it actually because many receive up to four salaries. He also doubted the number for the Kurdish Peshmerga saying the ministry should be audited before the Iraqi government sends any salaries.
He earlier called for the Peshmerga to come under the Iraqi command, or be downsized to a small, local force to be paid by the KRG.
“The Iraqi government is committed to pay the salaries after we control the oil,” PM Abadi said, adding that despite the announcement from the KRG, the Region has not done so yet.
PM Nechirvan Barzani said on Monday that they are ready to hand over the Region’s oil in return for 17 percent share of the Iraqi budget.
The KRG has stated that both Erbil and Baghdad have agreed since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 that Erbil will receive this percentage until a census held.
Iraq has not conducted a census since the 1980s.
PM Abadi said that the KRG, Iraq, and the United Nations all have the same data of the population in Iraq, including of the population of the Kurdistan Region.
He added there could be metrics implemented which may finally determine the share of the Kurdish share of the budget: population, needs, or the level poverty. He claimed the KRG’s needs and the level of poverty in the Kurdistan Region, compared to the rest of Iraq, are less.
“The metric that will best do justice is the population,” he said.
As for the population, he claimed the two sides have the same data, and therefore the argument about the census is more-so “political” and played by Erbil to receive a bigger share than it really deserves.
“First of all, is the 17 percent a law? No, the budget law is annual,” PM Abadi said while explaining that the budget share changes every year as the law has to be passed annually.
The current metric used by the KRG to claim its share is “unjust,” according to Abadi.
He said he is ready to pay more than the 17 percent if Erbil proves that its population is higher than that.
Abadi added that the same metric is implemented for the number of state employees, arguing that the Region has to have a work force that is reflective of its population.
