Minister of Finance and Economy Rebaz Hamlan said the central government had transferred salaries of employees nine times in 2018.

He added the government of Iraq had sent five months’ salaries of employees in 2019, three of which were given to employees as salaries for October, November and December in 2018, NRT reported.

“The other two were also paid as salaries for January and February,” he added in in a joint press conference with Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Spokesman Safin Dizayee.

“We will continue to pay salaries.”

The salaries of the five months were equivalent to more than 2.266 trillion Iraqi dinars, according to the Kurdish official.

The KRG needs 881 billion Iraqi dinars per month to pay salaries of employees in full, Hamlan noted.

The minister of finance and economy rejected that the federal government had transferred salaries of Peshmerga forces to the Kurdistan Region.

Referring to the Kurdistan Region’s relations with Baghdad, Hamlan said both sides have a “very good relation”.

Under the terms of the federal budget law passed in January, the Kurdistan Region should submit 250,000 barrels of oil per day to the State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO).

In return, Baghdad will transfer 12.67 percent of the federal budget to Erbil.

If there is a dispute, the central government is legally obligated to transfer enough money to pay the salaries of public sector workers in the Kurdistan Region, including Peshmerga.

At the moment, the Region is not transferring the required amount of oil, claiming that it has certain contracts to fulfill first. It appears that Baghdad is being tolerant of that for the moment and has been meeting its obligations under the budget law.

Reporter’s code: 50101