Iraq increases deficit to pay salaries
The Iraqi parliament voted on the funding deficit law so that it can borrow to pay salaries that have been in arrears for more than two months.
The Iraqi parliament approved Nov. 12 the funding deficit law, entitling the government to borrow 12 trillion dinars ($10 billion) from internal and external parties in an effort to pay state employees who have seen their salaries delayed for nearly two months. The loan value decreased from 41 trillion dinars ($34 billion) to 12 trillion dinars under the new law.
Iraq’s President Barham Salih said Nov. 13 that it was necessary "to approve the [funding deficit law] to ensure that employees' salaries are paid for the next three months, although borrowing is not a sustainable solution. The law alone is insufficient to end the crisis.”
The Kurds did not welcome the newly approved law. Kurdish members of parliament have actually withdrawn from the voting session because their request regarding a specific percentage of funds to the Kurdistan Region was not met. Former President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Massoud Barzani described it in a statement as “a stab by the Shiite and Sunni blocs in the backs of the Kurdistan people.”
Ala Talabani, a Kurdish member of the Iraqi parliament, expressed an opinion that is different from that of Barzani and the Kurdish parties. She tweeted, “What happened today at dawn in parliament is not a sectarian or ethnic conspiracy against the Kurds. Rather, it is the result of the [non]transparent policy of managing the region’s resources toward the partners.”
