Defense Ministry to pay Peshmerga salaries in 2019 budget: MP
Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP) said on Friday that the Kurdish Peshmerga forces will
receive their salaries from the Ministry of Defense instead of the Kurdistan Region Government (KRG), after amendments made to some articles of the budget.
The
Peshmerga forces will receive their salaries from the Ministry of Defense, for being part of the Iraqi security system, KDP MP Aram Balatayi
said in a statement.
The total share of the Kurdistan Region in the 2019 budget estimated at 10.751 trillion Iraqi dinars, which is equivalent to 13.63 percent of the total budget, a government source said on Friday.
The share of the region, according to the proportion of population makes up 12.67 percent of the budget, which equals 9.427 trillion dinars, the source said.
Moreover, by increasing the amount of money allocated for development projects up to to 3 trillion, the share of the region in the same regards had been increased to 380.1 billion dinars instead of 253.4 billion, the source added.
The share of the region from projects financed by foreign loans amounts at 102.361 billion dinars, he added, noting that the salaries of the Peshmerga forces are estimated at 842.048 billion dinars.
The Iraqi parliament approved the 2019 state budget after an hours-long vote early on Thursday.
The approval ends weeks of deadlock over allocations to different provinces and privatization of state projects.
The budget projected oil exports of 3.88 million barrels per day (bpd), up from 3.8 million bpd for the previous year, at a price of $56 per barrel.