Iraqi Kurdistan starts sending non-oil revenues to Baghdad
The capital of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, Erbil.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Ministry of Finance of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) declared on Monday that it had sent the federal government in Baghdad approximately 85 billion dinars (approximately $65 million) in domestic income.
The KRG’s Ministry of Finance mentioned in a statement that the amount coming from Iraqi Kurdistan’s domestic income for February 2024 was paid in cash into the Federal Ministry of Finance’s bank account at the Central Bank of Iraq’s Erbil branch.
Based on monthly audit reports, this sum represents half of Iraqi Kurdistan’s customs and tariff payments for the month of February.
The money is being transferred in compliance with a decision made in February by the Supreme Federal Court of Iraq, which obliged the KRG to provide Baghdad with access to all oil and non-oil income.
A preliminary agreement on revenue handover was struck earlier this month between Erbil and Baghdad. In the first phase, half of Iraqi Kurdistan’s non-oil earnings would be sent in cash to the Federal Ministry of Finance.
The federal budget legislation mandates that the governorates of Iraq and the Kurdistan region of Iraq give the federal government half of the earnings from border crossings and other non-oil revenues.
This is the first time that income from Iraqi Kurdistan has been given to Baghdad in cash since 2003.
In February, the KRG declared its willingness to turn over its non-oil revenue to the Iraqi government in an effort to comply with the federal budget laws and avoid any hurdles to the flow of funds from Baghdad.