Iraq: Baghdad-Erbil relations grow sour

ERBIL, Iraq

Relations between the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government in Erbil are growing sour as Erbil awaits full payment for oil, according to statement by the Kurdish regional government.

Unless Baghdad begins to make timely and full payments, the Kurdish regional government has warned that it will find other solutions for the problem.

Erbil and Baghdad had reached an agreement in December 2014 whereby the Kurdish region would export 550,000 barrels of oil per day under the supervision of SOMO, State Organization for Marketing of Oil, which is responsible for marketing Iraq's oil. In return, Baghdad would allocate 17 percent of the national budget to the Kurdish region.

But when Erbil started exporting to different countries via Turkey, Baghdad failed to send the full amount of Erbil’s share, citing obligations on its funds.

According to Kurdish officials, Baghdad is supposed to send a monthly amount of $1 billion to Erbil. However, Erbil received only $500 million in three months with total amount of $1.5 billion.

The Kurdish region is suffering from the non-payment, and the Kurdish government is struggling to pay the salaries of Peshmerga, police and civil servants. The cabinet of the Kurdish regional government met Tuesday to discuss this issue.

Barzani also said that the Erbil government  could take a political decision and find another way to solve the economic need in the region, according to a statement on the Kurdish government’s official website Wednesday.

"The central government’s problem is that it thinks that the region has no other option, and deals with the region as it wants to, and this is wrong. The region has other options and we will  make our decision," Barzani said.

"But we still seek to reach a solution with the Iraqi government, and we will visit Baghdad," Barzani said.

Kurdish regional government' natural resources minister, Ashti Hawrami, accused the central government of looking for excuses to escape payment, and of not calculating the amount of oil supplied by the region correctly. 

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, the region has exported 16.3 million barrels of oil in April through SOMO. Baghdad claims it had only received 15.3 million.

Replying to these accusations, a central government spokesman accused Monday the regional government of failing to send the agreed upon amount of oil. 

Speaking on television, spokesman Saad Hadisi placed the blame for the stalled agreement on Erbil.

"In the past three months, the KRG didn't stick to the agreement regarding oil delivery. It has been a week since the regional government could finally send the agreed amount, so this is the reason why the central government has not sent the KRG’s total share of the national budget," Hadisi said referring to the regional government by its initials.