Secretary-General of the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs Jabar Yawar told NRT that Abdul Mahdi, who is also acting defense minister, has sent an official letter to the federal Finance Ministry ordering it to transfer the budget allocated for the Peshmerga forces to a bank account belonging to the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Finance and Economy Ministry.

Sixty-eight billion Iraqi dinars ($57 million) per month was allocated to the Peshmerga in 2019 federal budget law, Yawar said.

Since the passage of the budget in January, the Government of Iraq has only been transferring money for non-military, public-sector salaries to the KRG.

Under the law, the Erbil is supposed to transfer 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day to Baghdad in exchange for 12.67 percent of the federal budget, or approximately 10 trillion Iraqi dinars.

If there is a dispute and Baghdad retaliates by suspending transfers, it is still required to send 522 billion dinars per month for the salaries of public sector workers and Peshmerga.

Reporter’s code: 50101