Shafaq News – Baghdad

Iraq’s Parliamentary Finance Committee plans to summon Finance Minister Taif Sami over the continued freeze on public employee promotions and bonuses, a lawmaker revealed on Sunday.

Committee member Muhammad Nuri told Shafaq News that the ministry halted these payments on January 9, 2025, citing delays in finalizing the federal budget’s expenditure tables. He argued that the budget holdup has directly blocked the disbursement of these entitlements.

Although the ministry has resumed partial payments for staff in revenue-generating state-owned enterprises, Nuri emphasized that the committee is demanding a clear explanation for the exclusion of employees in other sectors.

“We’re preparing to summon Minister Taif Sami for a joint session to resolve this issue and ensure workers are properly rewarded for their qualifications,” he noted.

In May, the Finance Committee asserted that promotions and bonuses are not legally tied to annex tables and must be paid without delay. The ministry resumed such payments for its own staff in mid-May, but employees in other ministries and public bodies remain sidelined.