KRG Spokesperson Jotiar Adil (Photo Credit: KRG)
PM:06:04:03/10/2021
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SULAIMANI — Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Spokesperson
Jotiar Adil said on Sunday (October 3) that Iraq’s federal government has not
yet sent an expected 200 billion Iraqi dinar ($137 million) transfer, which
Erbil says enables it to pay the full salaries of public servants in the
Kurdistan Region.
Adil said that the KRG hoped that the transfer will arrive
by Thursday.
Under an agreement with Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi,
the KRG began to receive a monthly stipend of 200 billion dinars per month in
July. Both Erbil and Baghdad have emphasized that the transfer is not part of
the budget law, but rather a separate agreement.
The 2021 Federal Budget Law passed in the spring, but has
not been implemented because of disagreements between the federal government
and the KRG over oil and customs income.
Adil said at a press conference that the Iraqi Council of
Ministers has agreed to send the money, but technical problems have slowed down
the process.
During 2020, the KRG struggled to pay its employees, missing
five monthly disbursements entirely and cutting four others by nearly a
quarter. Government employees had their pay cut by twenty-one percent during
the first six months this year.
Workers were paid in full in July for the first time in more
than a year, with another transfer in August.
In late September, the KRG said it expected a third transfer in time for the Iraqi parliamentary election, which will happen next Sunday.
(NRT Digital Media)