Slemani — Iraq’s Council of Ministers failed to reach a final decision on the release of the Kurdistan Region’s salaries during a meeting late Saturday, despite heated discussions over the issue and renewed calls by Kurdish ministers for a permanent solution, according to sources familiar with the session.
According to information obtained by Slemani Today from within the Iraqi cabinet, the issue of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) salary payments and the recent visit of a KRG delegation to Baghdad was raised after ministers concluded discussions on the official agenda, prompting an extensive debate but no concrete resolution.
During the meeting, Iraqi Justice Minister Khalid Shwani urged Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi to permanently resolve the long-running dispute over the Kurdistan Region’s salaries and non-oil revenues, stressing that public sector employees should no longer face repeated payment delays.
According to the report, Prime Minister al-Zaidi responded that responsibility for the issue lies with the Ministry of Finance. Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein also proposed establishing a committee to negotiate and settle the dispute.
Kanal8 reported that Iraqi Finance Minister Taif Sami briefed the cabinet on recent talks with the KRG delegation but did not specify when Baghdad might release the next salary payment.
An Iraqi government official, speaking to Kanal8 on condition of anonymity, said Baghdad is waiting for the Kurdistan Region to transfer its non-oil revenues for June before any funding is approved.
“So far, no decision has been made to reduce the required 120 billion dinars,” the official said, referring to the monthly amount Baghdad expects the KRG to remit. The KRG has requested either reducing the amount by half or calculating the federal share based on a trial balance reflecting both revenues and expenditures.
A senior official at the KRG Ministry of Finance told Kanal8 that the regional government is prepared to transfer between 50 billion and 60 billion Iraqi dinars in non-oil revenues once Baghdad formally requests the payment.
Last month, the KRG transferred 50 billion dinars in non-oil revenues for May. In return, Baghdad released 890 billion dinars to cover May salaries but deducted 70 billion dinars, citing outstanding non-oil revenue obligations.
Sources also indicated that even if the remaining disagreements over non-oil revenues and the submission of the KRG’s trial balance are resolved immediately, salary payments in the Kurdistan Region are unlikely to begin until Iraq completes salary distributions to federal employees, a process expected to take an additional two to three days.
The salary dispute remains one of the most contentious issues between Baghdad and Erbil, with disagreements over revenue-sharing and budget implementation repeatedly disrupting payments to hundreds of thousands of public sector employees in the Kurdistan Region.
