Source: Kurdistan finance delegation returns from Baghdad without key outcomes on salary dispute

Shafaq News/ The Kurdistan Region's Ministry of Finance and Economy delegation returned from the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, without achieving “significant results” or holding “key meetings,” a political source reported on Wednesday.

The source told Shafaq News Agency, “The technical delegation from the Ministry of Finance returned from Baghdad, where it had been three days earlier, without resolving the issue of the Region's employees' salaries… The delegation also failed to meet with Iraqi Minister of Finance Taif Sami, despite the meeting being scheduled.”

“The delegation's visit aimed to discuss the employees’ salaries for the final months of 2024 and submit a report to the Iraqi Ministry of Finance to address the related issues,” he clarified.

Citizens in the Kurdistan Region are facing severe disruption to their daily lives due to a widespread strike in government offices, schools, universities, and traffic departments, particularly in Al-Sulaymaniyah, as salaries have not been paid for over 80 days.

For years, the salary issue in the Region has remained unresolved due to ongoing disputes with the federal government. Each year, the debate resurfaces with the approval of the federal budget, which imposes conditions on the Region in exchange for its share, primarily the handover of oil revenues. However, in the past two years, after the Region halted oil exports through the Turkish port of Ceyhan, the federal government began providing salaries as "loans."

In February, the Federal Supreme Court ordered the Baghdad government to directly pay the salaries of the Kurdistan Region’s employees instead of sending them to the Kurdistan Regional Government after several months of salary delays.

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani had previously instructed the Iraqi Ministry of Finance to pay the Kurdistan Region's employees' October 2024 salaries, but this has not been done.

In Parliament, he confirmed that the salary issue is not political and that the Kurdistan Region has not complied with any clause of the Budget Law. He also stated that no transfer would be made for the Region's salaries, and only 760 billion dinars (approximately 608 million USD) would be paid, as the Region's fixed share is 12.67%.