The Iraqi Ministry of Finance sent the 2019 draft budget bill to the Council of Ministers where it was approved and sent to the parliament on Sunday.
"The draft contains the similar problems raised against it by Kurds last year — especially the Peshmerga budget, sovereign budget, not referring to Halabja as a province and the Kurdistan Region," said Fazil Nabi, a former deputy minister of finance in Baghdad.
The Kurdistan Regional Government’s 17-percent share was reduced to 12.67 by previous PM Haider al-Abadi who repeatedly claimed that the reduced share reflects the population of the Kurdistan Region. Iraq has not held a census since 1987.
"Kurds are an essential and basic component of Iraq and they must receive their rights,” said Hassan al-Fadam, an MP from Hikma Movement.
Fadam wants "the Iraqi budget to be fairly distributed among all the nations living in Iraq."
Due to their multiple reservations, parties from the Kurdistan Region in recent years did not vote for the budget laws and boycotted sessions.
Budgets are typically passed by December, although the contentious 2018 budget was not passed until April.
Iraq's budget for 2018 is about 104 trillion dinars (about $88 billion). The Iraqi budget operates with a deficit of 12.5 trillion dinars (about $10.6 billion). The budget is based on a projected oil price of $46 per barrel and a daily export rate of 3.8 million barrels.
The bulk of the Kurdistan Regional Government's recent demands have not been met. The Region's wants its share returned to 17 percent.
The suggested Iraqi draft budget for Fiscal Year 2019 puts the Kurdistan Region's budget share at 12.67 percent, amounting to around 8 trillion Iraqi dinars (about $6.72 billion).
Eight ministries remain unfilled by new ministers. Current ministers have continued to fill the posts.
