America intervenes on the line of Iraqi budget crisis
According to the ministry statement reported for " Shafaq News " , that the U.S. delegation included both economic advisor at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad , Robin Matewman and chief economist at the U.S. Consulate General in Erbil Ieron Cosmear , noting that the delegation met with the Deputy Finance Minister of Kurdistan ,Rashid Tahir “.
The statement added that the U.S. delegation put in the start of the meeting, the goal of its visit in order to see the economic and financial conditions and the differences between the federal government and the regional government of not sending the budget and salaries of employees of the region.
The statement added that Tahir highlighted problems , pointing to a lack of commitment to the Constitution and Baghdad government’s use of the budget as a pressure on the region.
The statement noted that Taher talked about how Baghdad would send the region’s budget, adding that it did not sent during all the past years, the budget amounting to 17 % of the volume of the Iraqi public budget , but it was based on the pretext of deducting sovereign and ruling expenses by large portions to reach only 11% and this what makes a negative impact on the recovery of the infrastructure of the regional government .
Kurdistan Regional Government says that Baghdad cut off funds allocated for the salaries of its employees , which create a crisis in liquidity and reflected the lack of ability to pay salaries and caused protests and sit-ins of employees in various ministries and official departments .
The origin of the dispute goes back to the lack of agreement in Baghdad and Erbil on how to export oil produced in the region abroad and be included in the general budget for the current year , as Baghdad demands Erbil to export 400 000 barrels of oil a day through Iraqi oil marketing company " SOMO " , and deposit its revenue at the expense in development Bank of Iraq in New York otherwise its will deduct equivalent amount of the region's share in the general budget , which is rejected by Erbil and considered as political pressure from Baghdad .
Erbil has offered to export 100 000 barrels per day , but this proposal has not been welcomed by Baghdad and has not been carried out so far .
