Sulaimaniya budget down by ID 70 billion

SULAIMANIYA / IraqiNews.com: The share of Sulaimaniya province in the budget to develop provinces of 2009 is less than the 2008 budget by 70 billion Iraqi dinars, a member of the provincial council said on Thursday. “The share of Sulaimaniya province in the 2009 budget is 130 billion Iraqi dinars, while its share last year was 200 billion Iraqi dinars,” Hassan Abdullah told IraqiNews.com news agency. The modern city of Sulaimaniya, 364 kilometers north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, was founded in 1748 by a Kurdish prince known as Ibrahim Pasha Baban who named it for his father Sulaiman Pasha. Since being founded as the capital of a powerful Kurdish principality it has grown to about 1,800,000 people. Sulaimaniya, known as Zamwa prior to its founding, is the cultural center of the Sorani-speaking Kurds and an important economic centre for Iraqi Kurdistan. SH (P)/SR 1