Baghdad increases pressure on KRG with budget cut
By cutting the Kurdistan region’s share of the national budget for 2018, the Iraqi central government continues to implement punitive measures in response to the Kurdish independence referendum.
Baghdad — The first draft of Iraq’s federal budget for 2018, approved by the government at the start of the month, envisions slashing the Kurdish region’s share from 17% to 12.7% of the total.
The cut is one of several “punitive” constitutional measures that followed the Sept. 25 Kurdish referendum on independence. Those measures also saw Baghdad seize control of disputed areas, border crossings and air bases, and demand that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) transfer taxes and other public revenues to the central government.
