ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s foreign minister said on Saturday that Baghdad is currently on good terms with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and issues regarding the budget law must be resolved soon.
“In the meetings with the Americans we discussed this subject. We said that we are on good terms with the Kurdistan Region,” Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York City.
Hussein acknowledged the existence of several problems between Baghdad and Erbil and said that “some have been solved and some remain to be solved.”
Regarding the Kurdistan Region’s disputed share of the federal budget, Hussein said that all budget-related issues have to be resolved. “The matter of the budget needs to be solved, either according to the law or by amending a part of that law in the future,” he said.
On Sunday, the KRG announced that the first 700 billion Iraqi dinars installment of a loan from Baghdad will be used to pay the July salaries of civil servants who have not received their wages for the past two months.
The Iraqi government made the decision to loan Erbil 2.1 trillion dinars after a delegation led by Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani went to Baghdad to lobby for the Region’s financial entitlements.
Iraq passed its highly contentious budget bill for the years 2023, 2024, and 2025 in June, which includes a record $152 billion in spending, of which the Kurdistan Region’s share is 12.6 percent. However, financial disputes between the two governments have not been resolved and each accuse the other of not fulfilling their obligations under the budget.
The Kurdistan Region’s economic woes have worsened in recent months after Turkey suspended the flow of Kurdish crude oil through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline to its Ceyhan port in March following a ruling from a Paris arbitration court, causing the KRG billions of dollars in losses.
Hussein said that the Iraqi delegation attending the UN General Assembly has engaged in “over 50 meetings” with officials from around the world, but a meeting with representatives from Turkey is still to come.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani said at the Middle East Global Summit hosted by Al-Monitor and Semafor in New York on Wednesday that Turkey’s failure to resume exports of Kurdistan Region oil violates a 1973 agreement. According to Sudani, Turkey has cited “technical issues” for why exports have not resumed after his government reached a deal with the KRG. He said Baghdad is waiting for details regarding the extent of the problem.
