Iraq approves its long-delayed budget

IRAQ’S parliament approved a long-delayed budget on Saturday, the first since declaring victory over Islamic State after three years of war, but Kurdish legislators boycotted the vote over their region’s diminished allocation.

The budget of 104 trillion Iraqi dinars (R1.04trln) is based on projected oil exports of 3.8 million barrels per day (bpd) at a price of $46, a copy of the final bill showed. It envisions government revenues of 91.64trln dinars with a deficit of 12.5trln dinars.

Parliament was meant to pass the budget before the start of the 2018 financial year in January, but all three main blocs, Shi’ite Arabs, Sunni Arabs, and Kurds, had serious issues with the government’s proposal. “We boycotted the vote and there are proposals for Kurdistan to withdraw from the entire political process in Iraq over the unfair treatment we have received,” said Kurdish MP Ashwaq Jaff.

The budget cut the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) share from the 17 percent the region has traditionally received since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

It did not specify a percentage to be allocated to the KRG, instead stipulating it would receive funds proportional to its share of the population. In a previous draft the KRG portion was set at 12.67 percent, which is how much of Iraq’s population Baghdad says the provinces in Kurdistan make up.