SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region —The Kurdistan Region’s Council of Ministers issued a statement on Wednesday blaming the Iraqi Finance Ministry for the delay in July salaries for civil servants. The statement asserted that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has met all its obligations, including submitting an accurate payroll and transferring non-oil revenues to Baghdad.
In its regular Wednesday meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, the KRG Council of Ministers addressed the delay in July salaries, noting that it had submitted an accurate payroll to Baghdad. Despite this, the Iraqi Finance Ministry has not released the necessary funds for salary disbursement, leaving civil servants awaiting their payments.
The KRG statement referenced the Iraqi Court’s ruling from February 23, 2024, which mandates that salary payments should remain unaffected and be separated from the ongoing disputes between the federal and regional governments.
The Council of Ministers also emphasized that no observations or concerns from the Iraqi Federal Board of Supreme Audit should be used as a justification for withholding the payment of salaries for civil servants in the Kurdistan Region, as is currently being done by the Federal Ministry of Finance.
“The ministries are also working closely to address issues related to the audits from both the Kurdistan and Baghdad financial audit bureaus,” reads the KRG statement.
Earlier on Wednesday, the KRG’s Ministry of Finance and Economy issued a statement rejecting claims by some lawmakers and media outlets that the delay was due to increased salary expenditures. They reaffirmed that the requested funds for July’s salaries are the same as those provided by the Federal Government in the past five months.
However, the ministry noted that monthly salary expenditures for June and July increased by over 50 billion dinars to comply with the Federal Court’s ruling, which stipulates a unified pension system for all retirees in Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Kurdish lawmaker Soran Omer responded to the KRG Finance Minister’s statement, asserting that salary expenditures, excluding over 50 billion dinars allocated to equalize retirees’ salaries with those in Iraq, have increased by 96 billion dinars over the past seven months, attributing this increase to the delay in July’s salaries.
In a recent development, after a 42-day delay in July salaries, a source informed Zoom News that the Iraqi Finance Ministry has rejected the payroll list sent by the KRG Finance Ministry 31 days ago and requested a revised payroll with amendments to address their concerns.
This Sunday, Iraqi-Kurdish Deputy Finance Minister Masoud Haidar announced that part of the delayed July salaries for KRG civil servants would be released on that day, with the full amount expected later in the week. However, KRG Finance Ministry spokesperson Hunar Jamal told Zoom News they have not yet received official updates on the transfer.
Disputes over oil and non-oil revenues, as well as KRG’s budgetary share, have consistently created a deadlock between the Iraqi Government and the Kurdistan Regional Government, resulting in delays in monthly payments for KRG civil servants, with some delays stretching beyond two months, exacerbating the long-standing financial struggles of KRG public employees.
