ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani on Saturday received Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani in Baghdad to discuss financial issues between the regional and federal governments.
President Barzani arrived in Baghdad on Saturday to attend a ceremony commemorating Shiite cleric Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim. He later met with PM Sudani and other Iraqi officials.
They discussed “mechanisms to proceed with resolving issues and cases between the federal government and the regional government in accordance with the constitution,” according to a statement from Sudani’s office that emphasized ensuring that the citizens of the Kurdistan Region “are spared any harm or repercussions from the administrative, financial, and economic challenges affecting these files.”
According to a statement from the Kurdistan Region Presidency "In the meeting, a serious discussion was held regarding the steps taken by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal government to resolve the issues of budget, employee salaries, resumption of Kurdistan Region's oil exports and several other administrative, financial and economic topics."
During his speech at the ceremony, Barzani talked about budget issues and problems paying the salaries of the Kurdistan Region’s civil servants.
“Due to the lack of budget and salary in the Kurdistan Region, employees and citizens live in a very dire situation. This has negatively affected all sectors in the Kurdistan Region,” Barzani said.
Barzani said solving the issue of budget and employee salaries was the responsibility of everyone in Iraq, “since the Kurdistan Region and its employees are a part of Iraq.”
The frequent delay in paying salaries, which has been an issue for the cash-strapped KRG for nearly a decade, has made life difficult for civil servants, many of whom have no other source of income.
Delegations from the KRG have visited Baghdad frequently over the past months to discuss amending the federal budget to guarantee Kurdish civil servants receive their salaries on time. The KRG described its latest meeting with the federal government last week as “positive” and said that Erbil had “fulfilled” its obligations.
