Kurdistan
Kurdish politicians from the federal government join a KRG cabinet meeting in Erbil to discuss financial disputes with Baghdad on January 12, 2025. Photo: Handout/KRG
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Council of Ministers is set to convene its weekly meeting on Wednesday, with the Region’s ongoing financial crisis - particularly delayed public sector salaries, pensions, and social benefits - expected to top the agenda.
According to a KRG statement, the meeting will be chaired by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and attended by Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani. It will begin with a discussion on the federal government's recent suspension of budget transfers to the Kurdistan Region.
“For the past two months, the Federal Ministry of Finance has, by an unconstitutional decision, suspended the disbursement of the Kurdistan Region’s rightful share of the federal budget,” the statement read, adding that the latest efforts to resolve the issue would also be reviewed.
Tensions between Erbil and Baghdad escalated in late May after the federal finance ministry halted all financial transfers to the KRG, including salaries for more than 1.2 million public employees. The ministry claimed the suspension was due to the Region exceeding its 12.67 percent share of the 2025 federal budget.
The decision has sparked widespread criticism from Kurdish parties, who denounce it as politically motivated and unconstitutional.
In response, Prime Minister Barzani last week submitted a formal complaint to Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court over the ongoing salary crisis.
“We have sent a letter to the Federal Supreme Court regarding the illegality and unconstitutionality of the finance ministry’s decision to suspend the Kurdistan Region’s financial entitlements,” PM Barzani said in a subsequent statement.
The Kurdistan Region premier further hoped the federal court would “make a positive decision in favor of the people of Kurdistan,” asserting that the KRG “has fulfilled all of its constitutional obligations and demands,” and therefore, “its constitutional rights ought to be respected and its financial entitlements transferred.”
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