Iraq’s Finance Minister faces parliamentary questions on Kurdistan salaries and budget delays
Shafaq News/ The financial committee in the Iraqi parliament announced on Sunday that it will host the finance minister on Monday to discuss the localization of salaries of employees in the Kurdistan region and the delay in distributing salaries across the country.
The head of the parliamentary financial committee, Atwan Al-Atwani, said to Shafaq News Agency, “the committee will host the finance minister, Taif Sami, on Monday, to discuss several topics, such as the federal court's decision and the localization and release of the salaries of employees in the Kurdistan region.”
Al-Atwani also said, “we will address the delay in launching the financial allocations, salaries, and projects, as well as the amendments to the budget law and the reasons for not sending the general budget tables to the parliament.”
Earlier today, The Iraqi Ministry of Finance confirmed that it had taken steps to ensure continuous salary financing according to the 2024-2025 budget, and denied political claims of a lack of "financial liquidity.”
Noteworthy, the Supreme Federal Court (the highest judicial authority in Iraq) decided on Wednesday, February 21, 2024, to obligate both Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, the Prime Minister of the Federal Council of Ministers, and the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, Masrour Barzani, to localize the salaries of employees and workers in the public sector through federal banks.
The President of the Federal Supreme Court, Judge Jassim Muhammad Abboud Al-Omairi, read out the judgment in the Kurdistan salaries case, where Al-Sudani and Masrour Barzani were obligated to localize the salaries of all employees of government entities in the center and the Region in federal banks outside the Kurdistan Region.
The court also decided to obligate the submission of the monthly budget for the employees of the Region to the Federal Ministry of Finance, with the Regional Council of Ministers being obligated to hand over all oil and non-oil revenues to Baghdad.
The ruling emphasized that the decision to localize the salaries of the Region's employees is final and binding.
