The semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq has said it opposes changes made by some members of the House Finance Committee to Iraq’s federal budget bill because of its violation of the rights of the Kurdish people.
The PKK opposition is challenging Prime Minister Mohamed Shiaa al-Sudani to approve a three-year budget, a policy that characterizes his government, which came to power late last year with the backing of a coalition of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurdish parties.
The Kurdish government has said it will not abide by any decisions other than the agreement signed with Al-Sudani. This appears to refer to an agreement between Erbil and Baghdad that sets out a framework for resuming the flow of crude oil from the northern Iraqi region through Turkey.
Before al-Sudani formed his own government, he reached an agreement with the influential Kurdistan Democratic Party, which controls the government of Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan in northern Iraq.
The agreement included, according to three Kurdish officials, an end to a longstanding conflict over financial transfers to Erbil and the sharing of oil revenues between the federal government and the regional government.
According to the Iraqi constitution, Kurdistan has the right to receive a portion of the national budget. But the deal fell through in 2014 when the Kurds began selling crude oil on their own.
In 2017, Iraqi forces reclaimed disputed lands, including the oil city of Kirkuk. Baghdad resumed the transfer of some budget payments, but with interruptions.
The KRG described the changes to the draft budget law, which were made by some members of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, as unconstitutional and “not in line with the agreement signed between the KRG and the federal government.”
In March, Al-Sudani’s government approved a draft budget for 2023 worth 197.828 trillion Iraqi dinars ($135.6 billion).
