Kurdish parties boycott budget discussions in Iraq

The 2018 budget discussions planned for today in the Iraqi parliament have been postponed due to Kurdish parties’ boycott.

The 2018 budget discussions planned for today in the Iraqi parliament have been postponed due to Kurdish parties’ boycott. Kurdish party groups didn’t attend the session planned for today due to the Kurdistan Region’s budget being lowered to 12.6% from 17%.

Following the referendum held in Southern Kurdistan, the Iraqi Central Government has declared that Kirkuk and the disputed territories are not under control of the Kurdistan Region and allocated 12.6% from the 2018 budget to the region.

The Iraqi Central Government calculates the budget share to be sent to the Kurdistan Region over provinces and population. Baghdad also claims that there are 650.000 registered public officers in the Kurdistan region, while Hewlêr gives this number to be 1.250.000.

Kurdish party groups had presented a draft including 9 articles like “Raising the Kurdistan Region’s share from the budget to 17%, addressing the Regional Government, determining the Peshmerga budget, oil-dollar payments being made (allocating one dollar per barrel of oil extracted in provinces to the province’s treasury)” before the budget discussions.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Al-Abadi made a statement last night and said 80% of the public officers’ salaries could be paid with the income from oil under control of the Kurdistan region.

Following these conditions from both sides, Kurdish parties refused to participate in the budget discussions planned for today in the Iraqi parliament. The quorum of decision could not be met when Kurdish parties didn’t attend, and the discussions were postponed.