Iraq’s Kurd regional government opposes changes in budget

Last updated May 27, 2023

Kurdistan parliament speaker Rewaz Faiq (top C), leads a parliament session in Arbil, the capital of Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdish region, on May 25, 2021. - Faiq is just one of two women serving as parliament speaker in the Middle East, where politics is a man's world, but the Iraqi Kurdish mother of two is unfazed. Known for her straight talk, Faiq knew she would face challenges when she was elected in 2019 to the post in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. (Photo by Safin HAMID / AFP)

Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan regional government said on Friday it opposed changes in the draft Iraqi federal budget that infringe on the rights of the Kurdish people.

The Kurdistan Regional Government’s opposition poses a challenge to the prime minister of Iraq’s federal government, Mohammed Al-Sudani, in adopting a three-year budget, a flagship policy of his government that came to power late last year backed by a coalition of Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish parties.

KRG said it would not abide by any other decision outside the agreement signed with Al-Sudani’s government, which appeared to be a reference to a deal between the two governments setting a framework for the resumption of oil flows from the northern Iraqi region via Turkiye.

Before Al-Sudani formed his government, he struck a deal with the powerful Kurdish Democratic Party, which dominates the administration in Irbil, capital of the semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq. The agreement included ending a long-running dispute over budget transfers to Irbil and oil revenue sharing between the national government and Kurdistan, according to three Kurdish officials.

Under the Iraqi constitution, the Kurdish region is entitled to a portion of the national budget. But the arrangement collapsed in 2014 when the Kurds began selling crude independently from Kurdistan.

In 2017, Iraqi forces retook disputed territories including the oil city of Kirkuk. Baghdad resumed some budget payments, but they have been sporadic.

KRG called the changes in the draft budget, introduced by members of the parliament’s finance committee, unconstitutional and “inconsistent with the agreement signed between the regional government and the federal government.”

In March, Al-Sudani’s Cabinet approved the 2023 draft budget of 197.828 trillion Iraqi dinars ($135.6 billion) that would be referred to parliament for approval.