PM:03:44:02/07/2025
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Public sector salaries in the Kurdistan Region have not been paid for more than 60 days, as the standoff between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal government in Baghdad continues with no resolution in sight.
According to sources who spoke to NRT, the KRG has refused to fully hand over oil exports to Iraq’s State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO), unless Baghdad agrees to release the overdue salaries of regional employees. The KRG is reportedly willing to provide only 50,000 barrels of oil per day, far short of the 280,000 barrels requested by the Iraqi government.
A source familiar with the negotiations said the KRG has offered to raise the export amount to 170,000 barrels per day on the condition that Baghdad pays off outstanding debts owed to oil companies operating in the region.
"The KRG insists that if it sells its oil, salaries still won’t be paid unless Baghdad fulfills its financial obligations. That’s why they’re holding back,” the source said.
Amid the political impasse, NRT has also learned that leading parties in the region — the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) — have proposed that Baghdad cut public salaries directly, instead of expecting the KRG to transfer internal revenues.
With no agreement yet reached and the fiscal deadlock unresolved, employees across the Kurdistan Region continue to bear the brunt of the dispute, facing financial hardship as their salaries remain unpaid.