ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Erbil and Baghdad have a “historic opportunity” to resolve their budget dispute, say lawmakers, but qualify that it may take time and some problems may not be solved until the following year.

“A historic opportunity has come up. The Iraqi prime minister took part in previous negotiations between the Kurdistan Region and the central government and has good relations with leaders of the Kurdistan Region. He is aware of most questions. That is why both parties should live up to their responsibilities and commit to bilateral agreements,” Auday Awad, a parliamentarian with the Binaa coalition, told Rudaw.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi enjoys a much better relationship with the Kurdish leadership than his predecessor.

In 2014, when he was oil minister, Abdul-Mahdi reached an agreement with Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani to end their dispute over the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)’s independent oil sales that had sparked Baghdad’s decision to stop sending the Erbil its share of the federal budget.

The deal would have seen the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) handover 150,000 barrels of oil daily in exchange for Baghdad resuming payments, but it quickly fell apart with each side blaming the other for reneging on their promises.

Kurds, however, still consider Abdul-Mahdi sympathetic to their situation.

There is an effort to form a joint committee between Erbil and Baghdad to discuss their budget disputes like the KRG’s share of federal funds and payment of Peshmerga salaries, said Ahmad Safar, a Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) member of the Iraqi parliament.

“But this takes time. That is why the problem of the budget might not be completely resolved this year and might be left for the 2020 budget,” Safar told Rudaw.

“For now, only the salaries of employees and financial entitlements of the Kurdistan Region will be resolved,” he added.

Abdul-Mahdi, Finance Minister Fuad Hussein, and the parliament’s finance committee are determined to ensure KRG state employees will receive their salaries on time and in full, according to Safar.

To help deal with its budget shortfall, Erbil instituted an unpopular salary-saving scheme that saw wages of public sector employees slashed and delayed by months.

Parliament has not yet voted on the 2019 budget bill – Kurdish and Sunni lawmakers are all unhappy with the document. Negotiations are underway and Binaa MP Auday Awad hopes both sides will be able to put aside old grievances and look to the future.

“There should be good will. Leaders of Erbil and Baghdad should find a fundamental solution,” he said.

Rudaw