Flags of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region (File)
AM:10:18:25/08/2021
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SULAIMANI — Member of Iraq’s Council of Representatives’
Finance Committee Naji Saeedi said on Tuesday (August 24) that the monthly cash
transfers of 200 billion Iraqi dinar ($137 million) from Baghdad to the Kurdistan
Region is a violation of the 2021 Federal Budget Law.
Under an agreement with Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, the
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) began to receive a monthly stipend of 200
billion dinars per month in July.
Saeedi told state-run Iraqi News Agency (INA) that the KRG has
not yet sent any customs or oil income to the federal government, which it is
obligated to do under the terms of the budget Law.
He said that the article which outlines the Kurdistan Region’s
budget share in the law is "very clear” and stipulates that the Region cannot receive
any funds from the general budget without meeting its obligations towards the
federal government.
Under the 2021 Federal Budget Law, which passed on March 31,
the KRG is supposed to receive 9.5 trillion Iraqi dinars ($6.5 billion), which
will be disbursed in monthly increments, in return for submitting a portion of
the customs income and the cash equivalent of 250,000 barrels of crude oil per
day to Baghdad. The federal government will be able to cut off funds in the
event of non-compliance.
(NRT Digital Media)