First installment of $1 billion to be received by Erbil from Baghdad

23/11/2014

On Friday, Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani said that Baghdad would send Erbil $500 million as part of an agreement reached between both sides last week on solving their budget disputes.
Barzani stated, “We have agreed that Baghdad will send the Kurdistan Region $1 billion in two installments and in return we will give Baghdad 150,000 barrels of oil.”
Barzani added that the agreed amount of oil would be exported from Kirkuk via Kurdistan’s oil pipeline to Turkey. Najiba Najib, a member of Iraq’s parliamentary finance committee mentioned that the money would arrive in Erbil on Monday via Iraq’s central bank.
Iraq’s Kurdish Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Wednesday that the practical steps of the agreement had gone into effect and that the Kurdistan Region’s 2015 budget would be the focus of future negotiations between both sides. Zebari said this was the first money sent by Baghdad to Erbil, despite their joint alliance against the Islamic State (ISIS).
The finance minister said that the budget dispute between Iraq and the autonomous region has played a role in Iraq’s larger problems. The agreement was reached earlier this month between Iraqi Oil Minister Adel Abdul-Mehdi and the Kurdish government.
Kurdish and Iraqi leaders said this was only an agreement to restart negotiations on all disagreements between sides over budget issues, the Peshmerga forces and oil and gas rights.

Last Update:: 23/11/2014

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