Iraq’s Kurdish region hands oil to Baghdad for first time

Iraqi’s Kurdistan Regional Government is transferring 250,000 barrels of oil per day to the federal government in Baghdad, the minister of finance said yesterday.

Awat Sheikh Janab said this comes as part of a deal between Erbil and Baghdad which would see the KRG receive its share from the 2020 federal budget.

“With the adoption of the agreement as of 2020, there will be no problem regarding the salaries of the region’s employees,” he added.

The Kurdish minister considered that “reducing the region’s share of the federal budget, was unfortunately a political decision” noting that “the region’s share of the budget next year, will be the same as this year which is 12.67 per cent”.

Meanwhile KRG’s Cabinet Secretary Amanj Rahem said the province will contribute to raising Iraq’s revenues.

The region has been exporting crude oil since 2014 amid opposition from Baghdad.

READ: We were deliberately left out of Syria’s constitutional process, Kurdish official tells MEMO