Shafaq News – Erbil

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) reaffirmed on Sunday its commitment to negotiations with Baghdad during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani.

According to the KRG statement, the session reviewed a report from the Kurdish negotiating team outlining recent legal and technical discussions with federal counterparts and confirming that all requested data on unresolved issues had been submitted.

The meeting concluded with a directive to accelerate dialogue aimed at securing the Region’s constitutional rights, financial entitlements, and public sector salaries.

Earlier today, Deputy Parliament Speaker Shakhwan Abdullah accused Baghdad of “deliberately stalling” payments, telling reporters in Kirkuk that the federal government was “taking pleasure in the suffering of our employees.”

The dispute stems from long-running friction over oil exports and revenue sharing, which escalated in May 2025 when the federal government froze transfers to cover the Kurdish public payroll.

Last week, the Kurdish Finance Ministry confirmed the transfer of 120B IQD ($91M) in June non-oil revenues to the federal account at the Central Bank’s Erbil branch, in compliance with the August 26 cabinet decision tying salary allocations to the revenue handover.

The arrangement forms part of a broader deal reached earlier this year, under which Baghdad agreed to cover May and June salaries in exchange for 240B IQD in non-oil revenues—120B IQD each month—and the daily delivery of 230,000 barrels of oil.