ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Baghdad has come to an agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) regarding the 2021 draft budget bill, Iraq’s finance minister announced on Saturday. "The ministry reached an agreement with Kurdistan on the 2021 budget, and the present delegation is discussing its allocations for the year 2020," Ali Allawi told state media on Saturday. The Kurdistan Region’s allocation of the federal budget has been a point of contention with Baghdad. Iraq has not sent the autonomous region money for several months of 2020, preventing the KRG from paying the salaries of its public servants. Allawi also revealed that "the [draft] budget may reach parliament within a week." Several delegations have visited Baghdad this year in attempts to settle the prolonged dispute. The latest delegation, led by Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani, left for the Iraqi capital on December 16. Talabani has said that the Kurdish delegation in Baghdad will not return to Erbil until a deal is reached with the federal government. The already-existing budget dispute between the two governments was further complicated on November 12 when Iraqi MPs passed the Fiscal Deficit Coverage Bill to approve loans for civil servant salaries in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region for the last two months of this year. The bill passed with a majority vote, despite a walk-out staged by Kurdish MPs, who were angered that Erbil is obliged to hand over an unspecified amount of oil in exchange for funds- a clause they say was not in the original bill. KRG officials have expressed their disapproval of the deal, but said they would comply with it. The KRG has struggled to pay its civil servants in full and on time for five years, due to the war against the Islamic State (ISIS), economic mismanagement and crisis, disputes with Baghdad, as well as a drop in oil prices. Iraq is also struggling to pay its civil servants as the country has plunged deeper into an economic crisis caused by low oil prices, delaying public sector salaries and causing frustration among civil servants. Angry over months-long delays in receiving their salaries, civil servants and their supporters staged large protests in the Kurdistan Region’s city of Sulaimani, beginning on December 2. The demonstrations quickly spread to other areas of the province, Halabja province, as well as the Garmiyan and Raparin administrations. Security forces were deployed in large numbers and used tear gas, live and rubber bullets, and water cannons to end the protests. Eleven people have been killed during clashes between security forces and protestors, including a Peshmerga who died of a stroke.
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