ERBIL, Kurdistan Region —

“Iraq has accounted for 682,000 civil servants, but in the Kurdistan Region we have 1.27 million civil servants, meaning it’s on the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to provide the salaries of another 600,000 people,”Hevidar Ahmed told Rudaw’s Shaho Amin.

Kurdish civil servants went unpaid for most of last year, prompting protests in several areas, including Duhok and Sulaimani.

Baghdad’s 2021 budget was approved by the Iraqi Council of Ministers in December, but took three months to be passed by Iraq’s parliament.

According to the budget, the Kurdistan Region will hand over the revenue of no less than 250,000 barrels of oil at state-regulated prices to Baghdad in exchange for federal funds.

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said earlier in April that the KRG is ready to adhere to its commitments in the recently-passed budget, calling on the federal government in Baghdad to send funds to Erbil for the first three months of the year.

The Kurdistan Region is heavily reliant on federal funds to pay its civil servant salaries.

Erbil has struggled to pay civil servant salaries in full and on time for five years, due to the war against the Islamic State (ISIS), disputes with Baghdad and a drop in oil prices.

In December, the chief of the United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI), Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said civil servant salaries should be shielded from Erbil-Baghdad disagreements.

Solving the problems between Erbil and Baghdad will pave the way for stability and development of Iraq, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani said during a meeting in Baghdad on Saturday.

Rudaw