Erbil, Kurdistan Region — The Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Ministry of Finance has announced that a high-level delegation will visit Baghdad to discuss the implementation of the pension law and the harmonization of pension benefits for civil servants in the Kurdistan Region.

According to a KRG official speaking to BasNews, the delegation will include representatives from both the Ministry of Finance and the Council of Ministers. The delegation is set to meet with officials from the Iraqi Pension Board and the Iraqi Ministry of Finance to address discrepancies in the retirement process and pension benefits for employees in the Kurdistan Region compared to those in the rest of Iraq.

"One of the key issues on the agenda is the retirement age. In Baghdad, employees retire at 60, but some workers in the Kurdistan Region continue to work beyond this age. This difference will be a focus of the discussions," the Kurdish official explained.

Additionally, the delegation will work to resolve disparities in how final retirement salaries are calculated. Currently, pensioners in the Kurdistan Region receive retirement pay based on six months' salary, while in Baghdad, the calculation is based on 12 months' salary. This imbalance is expected to be addressed in the upcoming talks.

The KRG official noted that employees with extensive years of service are likely to see a significant increase in their pension benefits after the discussions in Baghdad. The delegation will also work on equalizing pension deductions, which currently stand at 10% for both regions.

Zryan Mahmood, Deputy Director of the Second Pension in Erbil, provided further insights, explaining that two measures from the Iraqi Federal Unified Pension Law No. 9 of 2014 have already been implemented in the Kurdistan Region. "One of these measures was the equalization of civilian pensioners' salaries by 10%. However, other provisions, such as the retirement process, are still under negotiation and will be finalized in Baghdad," Mahmood said.

The pension law in the Kurdistan Region, governed by Law No. 27 of 2006, differs from the federal law applied in Iraq. However, the KRG has approved a proposal from the Ministry of Finance and Economy, along with a joint team from the Federal Financial Supervision Bureau and the Kurdistan Region, to unify pension regulations across Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region. This move is aimed at aligning the pension system with federal laws and bringing uniformity to salary structures.

The Ministry of Finance also confirmed that civilian pensioners' salaries for July were distributed according to the unified pension law, but the equalization process for military pensioners' salaries has not yet been completed.

The outcome of the discussions between the KRG delegation and the Iraqi government is expected to lead to official decisions that will standardize pension regulations and address long-standing disparities between the Kurdistan Region and the rest of Iraq.