Senior KRG officials held a meeting led by Premier Nechirvan Barzani accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani on Wednesday to discuss the KRG’s system of withholding salaries, NRT reported.

Following the meeting, Barzani said he was glad to announce that the KRG had taken an “important step” in the interest of the public servants to abolish the system.

“This is an important step but it is still not all. After the proposal of reform which is now in the parliament, I can say we will reach the step to completely end the payment withholding system,” he added.

Meanwhile, KRG Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Rebaz Hamlan, said the highest cut from the employees’ salaries would be 30 percent, which was 75 percent in the previous system.

“If a person whose salary is between 1 million and 1.5 million Iraqi dinars ($843 USD and $1,266USD), his salary will be cut by 23 percent,” Hamlan added.

“Those whose salaries are less than 400,000 Iraqi dinars ($338 USD) will be paid in full without cutting their salaries.”

The announcement of a new system of payment came after Kurdish public servants protested across the Kurdistan Region against KRG austerity measures and salary delays.

Protesters called on the KRG to cancel the payment withholding system.

Reporter’s code: 50101