ERBIL, Kurdistan Region— A Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) MP in Baghdad has confirmed that the parliamentary finance committee intends to add a new article regarding the Kurdistan Region's share of the 2021 budget, state media reported on Monday.
Arzo Mahmoud told the state-owed Iraqi News Agency (INA) on Monday that the Kurdish delegation's talks with Baghdad have not reached a dead end, indicating that Erbil officials will return at any moment to Baghdad for dialogue and agreement on the Kurdistan region's share of the budget.
"The finance committee is preparing a new article about the Kurdistan Region's share, which states it must hand over the export revenues from 250,000 barrels of oil per day, along with non-oil revenues, to the federal government," Mahmoud said, adding that "the Kurdish delegation refused to hand over any oil fields, or all oil revenues to the federal government."
Budget disputes have been a source of long-standing tension between Erbil and Baghdad. In December 2019, Baghdad agreed to send Erbil a 12.67 percent share of the federal budget in exchange for 250,000 barrels of oil per day. Neither side fully abided by the agreement, however.
During a meeting with the finance committee in Baghdad on Sunday, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi called on parliament to leave political disputes out of budget talks.
"Equity must be followed in the distribution of wealth among all regions of Iraq, in accordance with the principles of the constitution, apart from political disputes," the PM said in a statement released by his office.
On December 22, the Kurdistan Region Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani – who lead the delegation to the capital - announced Erbil and Baghdad had reached a deal on Iraq's budget bill for 2021 that "keeps the common interest of all Iraqi people, including the people of Kurdistan Region," following weeks of disputes after Kurdish MPs walked out of a session on a deficit bill requiring Erbil to hand over an unspecified amount of oil in exchange for funds.
Talabani told the Kurdish Parliament on December 28 that the KRG is ready to hand over 250,000 barrels of oil per day to Baghdad if the 2021 budget is approved.
Iraq didn’t pass a budget for 2020. Civil servants paid by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) went unpaid for most of last year, prompting deadly protests across the provinces of Sulaimani, Halabja, and the Garmiyan administration at the end of last year.
On Sunday, several leading politicians in Sulaimani province – which is dominated by the PUK - suggested that it split from the KRG and deal directly with Baghdad as a solution to the ongoing economic crisis, which has further frayed ties between Erbil and Baghdad.
