Shafaq News / Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, Masrour Barzani, on Wednesday, instructed the Ministry of Finance and Economy to distribute the monthly salaries of employees and public sector workers in the region in the event that the federal government deposits the first batch of funds allocated for this purpose in the account of the said ministry.
Masrour Barzani said in a blog on social networking sites “Facebook” after presiding over the session of the Council of Ministers of the region, that he instructed the Ministry of Finance and Economy that with the arrival of the first batch of 700 billion dinars by the Federal Ministry of Finance, the immediate start of distributing the salaries of the region’s employees for the month of July without delay.
In a subsequent statement issued by the territorial government, the Council of Ministers directed all ministries to continue to cooperate with the Office of Financial Supervision, especially with regard to the total numbers of employees and the amount of their salaries, which have already been officially submitted to Baghdad several times.
A high-level delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government headed by Masrour Barzani visited the capital Baghdad last week, and held a series of meetings and meetings with the three presidencies, leaders, leaders of blocs and political forces with the aim of solving the problem of financing the monthly salaries of the region’s employees, and securing Kurdistan’s share of the budget. A formula of understanding was reached announced by the Council of Ministers in a session held later.
In a session held on Sunday, September 17, the Council of Ministers decided to amend its previous decision No. (23500) of 2023 to be as follows:
1. Rafidain, Al-Rasheed and (TBI) banks are taking care of lending to the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq an amount of two trillion and one hundred billion dinars for the current fiscal year to be paid in three equal installments of 700 billion dinars for each batch, starting in September.
2. The Federal Ministry of Finance shall pay the amounts of the loan mentioned in paragraph (1) above from the allocations of the Territory in the federal general budget for the fiscal year 2023, after settling its provisions.
3. If the remaining share of the region is not enough to repay the loan amounts in implementation of paragraph (2) above, the Federal Ministry of Finance shall pay the amounts of the said loan from the allocations of the region in the federal budget for the fiscal year (2024), or from any other dues to the mentioned banks, before paying any dues to the region.
4. The Ministry of Finance shall place a bank deposit with the said banks equal to the loan amounts of each of which shall be withdrawn after the implementation of the aforementioned paragraphs (2, 3).
5. The Federal Financial Supervisory Office, in coordination with the Office of Financial Control in the region, shall audit the numbers of employees, covered by social welfare salaries and retirees in the region according to the lists handed over to the Federal Ministry of Finance and the amount of their salaries within a period not exceeding (30) days from the date of issuance of this decision, in accordance with the requirements set by the said diwans.
