Parliamentary Finance Committee: Baghdad to fund KRI salaries monthly per Supreme Court decision

Shafaq News / The Parliamentary Finance Committee clarified on Saturday the details of the Supreme Federal Court's decision regarding the financing of salaries for employees in the Kurdistan Region (KRI).

The Parliamentary Finance Committee’s head Atwan Al-Atwani informed Shafaq News Agency that "the Supreme Federal Court's decision stipulated that the federal Ministry of Finance should finance the salaries of KRI’s employees in the same manner as their counterparts in all Iraqi governorates."

He added, "The decision is clear that any party that obstructs the implementation of any of these provisions will subject itself to accountability and justice," explaining that "the aim of localizing salaries is to build a database and avoid job duplication."

Al-Atwani also noted that "the allocation amount will be part of the Region's allocations, which is 12.67%, and the remainder will be used to finance projects and institutional requirements in the Region."

He emphasized that "the Ministry of Finance will monthly finance the salaries of KRI’s employees and retirees per the decision of the Federal Supreme Court," adding, "Officials in the Region should interact with the decision positively to finance employees' salaries in a normal manner."

The Supreme Federal Court (the highest judicial authority in Iraq) decided on Wednesday, February 21, 2024, to obligate both Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, the Prime Minister of the Federal Council of Ministers, and the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, Masrour Barzani, to localize the salaries of employees and workers in the public sector through federal banks.

The President of the Federal Supreme Court, Judge Jassim Muhammad Abboud Al-Omairi, read out the judgment in the Kurdistan salaries case, where Al-Sudani and Masrour Barzani were obligated to localize the salaries of all employees of government entities in the center and the Region in federal banks outside the Kurdistan Region.

The court also decided to obligate the submission of the monthly budget for the employees of the Region to the Federal Ministry of Finance, with the Regional Council of Ministers being obligated to hand over all oil and non-oil revenues to Baghdad.

The ruling emphasized that the decision to localize the salaries of Region's employees is final and binding.

Notably, salaries are among the main outstanding issues between the Iraqi and the Kurdish governments, along with the oil export and disputed areas.

The two sides regularly meet to discuss these issues, but no radical solution is reached.