Kurdistan employees’ wages crisis to be solved within days

Shafaq News / Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) representative in Baghdad, Fares Issa revealed on Monday, the continuous contacts between the region's head of government, Masrour Barzani and Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, to solve the problem of the wages of the region's employees.

"It is assumed that the employees’ salaries of Kurdistan Region will be disbursed during the coming days, after resolving the legal issues in this matter according to Baghdad opinion, and we are optimistic about the dialogues and contacts that take place between Baghdad and Erbil,” Issa told Shafaq News Agency.

Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)announced on Sunday, that a delegation from Kurdistan Region will travel during this week to visit Baghdad to resolve several files, most notably the general budget and salaries.

KRG delegation held two rounds of discussions with the Iraqi government during the past month and the beginning of this month, as well as consultations with leaders and officials of Iraqi political parties on resolving the outstanding differences between Baghdad and Erbil.

The visit came days after the Iraqi government cut the salaries of employees of Kurdistan Region after it said that the region had not fulfilled its obligations in the financial budget represented by the delivery of 250 thousand barrels of oil per day to the federal government.

The agreement includes Kurdistan Region delivery of 250 thousand barrels per day of oil to the federal government, in return for handing Baghdad a share of about 13 % of the budget to the region in addition to the salaries of employees and Peshmerga.

There are pending issues between the two sides for many years, one of the most important  is the disputed territories, how to manage oil wealth, the budget of Peshmerga forces, and others.