Baghdad's deduction of 9bn dinars from Erbil’s allocations “will cast its shadows on service projects”

Shafaq News / Erbil Governor, Omed Khushnaw, announced on Tuesday the suspension of service projects for the upcoming year due to the absence of an "executional vision" regarding the financial allocations for the province.

During his visit to a service project in the city center, Khushnaw conveyed to several media outlets, including Shafaq News Agency, "Due to the financial crisis in the region, there is no planning for the execution of service projects in the upcoming year because we do not know the budget allocated to us from the central government and the regional government."

He added, "The plan is limited to the development and rehabilitation of several service projects, but the implementation steps to establish service projects in the coming year are halted until clarity is obtained regarding our future financial allocations."

"Erbil province requested Baghdad to allocate 14 billion Iraqi dinars for the implementation of several service projects. The Iraqi Council of Ministers approved only 5 billion dinars of that amount for executing these projects, causing a crisis due to the insufficient allocated amount compared to what was requested, which is not enough for their implementation”, he added.

He expressed surprise at "the federal government withholding 9 billion dinars from Erbil for establishing these service projects that contribute to serving and developing the provinces in general, including the Kurdistan Region."