Iraqi PM Kadhimi agrees to send funds for Kurdistan Region civil servant pay: KRG spokesperson

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iraq agreed on Saturday to send some 320 billion dinars ($268 million) to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for it to pay its civil servants, a KRG official announced on Saturday night – if Baghdad has sufficient funds to do so.

The decision was announced by KRG spokesperson Jotiar Adil after a phone call between Kurdistan Region prime minister Masrour Barzani and Iraqi premier Mustafa al-Kadhimi.

"The prime minister of the Kurdistan Region and the premier of federal Iraq agreed on some main steps towards the resolution of all unresolved issues," Adil said in a Facebook post. "It was decided that depending on the current financial situation of Iraq, a salary segment of some 320 billion dinars will be sent to the Region from Baghdad in the nearest future."

The heavily oil-dependent economies of Erbil and Baghdad were dealt a dramatic blow by a collapse in global oil prices in April and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Officials from both governments made admissions acknowledging state economic mismanagement, with Kurdistan Region prime minister Masrour Barzani warning in June that his government is $27 billion in debt, while Iraq's new finance minister warned the same month that his country was in an "existential economic situation" with little available funds.

Kurdish officials have openly said they cannot pay civil servants without money from the federal government. The KRG has not paid public sector employees on time and in full since Baghdad stopped sending funds in April. Erbil says it is entitled to its 12.67% share of federal funds, as stipulated by Iraq’s 2019 budget law, while Baghdad says the KRG has not lived up to its end of the deal that includes turning over 250,000 barrels of oil daily to Iraq’s State Organization for the Marketing of Oil (SOMO), a state-owned oil company.

KRG public sector employees have taken to the streets over delays in salary payments. Demonstrations and strikes calling on the KRG's current cabinet to resign have occurred several times in Sulaimani province, while protests by teachers in May over delayed pay in Duhok were shut down.

Erbil and Baghdad have met multiple times to resolve budget disagreements to little avail, each blaming the other in a public war of words. However, Barzani and Kadhimi shared the view that the agreement they reached was "the fruit of months-long talks between the negotiating teams of both sides," Adil said in his post.

Barzani and Kadhimi agreed "the Iraqi Constitution acts as a basis to resolving all the issues and for any agreement," Adil added.

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