Erbil says Iraqi gov’t to pay salaries of KRG employees

By Ali Jawad

BAGHDAD (AA) – The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq on Sunday said it has been assured by the federal government on the payment of the KRG employees' monthly salaries of 200 billion Iraqi dinars (about $138 million).

Speaking at a press conference in Erbil, KRG Finance and Economy Minister Awat Janab said the Iraqi government issued two decrees on the transfer of 200 billion Iraqi dinars ($138 million) for the salaries.

Janab said the KRG got assurances that the amount will be paid on a monthly basis and to "treat the citizens in the region like all Iraqis across Iraq."

Baghdad started paying salaries of the KRG employees in June as part of an agreement under which the central government agreed to allocate 12.6% of the federal budget for year 2021 to the KRG in return for 250,000 barrels of crude oil from KRG oilfields.

Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar, for his part, said the Iraqi SOMO oil company conducts a monthly evaluation of the price of the 250,000 oil barrels from the KRG to set the region’s share from the federal budget, according to the official news agency.

In April 2019, the Iraqi federal government at the time had cut the KRG employees' monthly salaries of 453 billion Iraqi dinars (about $380 million) after it said the KRG had failed to abide by their agreement in 2019 to deliver 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day to Baghdad.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara